Dragon Ball Heroes: A New Generation of Heroes
by OtakuFox43
Summary: With his future in shambles, Trunks only has one option left after his time machine is stolen by Cell. He has to head into the future in a last ditch effort to find help and hope for his time line. With Bulma's newest inventions, all he can do now is wait and hope that someone will answer his call and come to his time line's aid before it's too late.
1. Prologue

Slowly, the lavender-haired teen opened his eyes, only meeting with the white tiled ceiling above his head, the memory of his previous battle that landed him in the hospital bed he was lying in still fuzzy in his mind, but all he could clearly remember was the devious chuckle of the monster before he fell unconscious from his injuries.

_"Damn it, he actually stole my time machine, how could I let that happen?!"_ Clenching his fists, Trunks was snapped out of his thoughts, hearing the door open to his room and spotting his mother walk into the room with a first aid kit in her hands.

"Oh good, you're finally awake, that was too close a call back there Trunks, I can't believe those androids beat you this badly." The blunette sighed, opening the first aid kit and began unwrapping the bandages around her son's left arm.

"It wasn't the androids that did this..." Trunks turned his head to the left, trying to avoid his mother's gaze, mentally contemplating if he should even tell her about this new threat.

"What do you mean? If it wasn't the androids than who did this to you?" Bulma was dabbing Trunks' injured arm with an antiseptic-dipped cotton ball, only to turn her gaze to the expression on her son's face.

Her instincts telling her that there was something weighing heavily on Trunks' mind and just continued to study his expression until Trunks couldn't hold it anymore, feeling his mother's gaze burning holes in the side of his face.

"I don't know exactly what it was, but it said it was an android named Cell, I don't know where it came from, or even how it got here, but when I saw it, it felt like it had all sorts of energies all crammed into a single body." Bulma's eyes widened slightly, momentarily stopping her actions before continuing to treat her son's injuries.

"It was powerful... More powerful than I anticipated; I tried fighting it off, but it was too strong for me to deal with on my own, the fight is still hazy, but all I do remember is his laugh just as he stole the time machine." Trunks' eyes narrowed into a visible glare, though his glare wasn't directed at anyone in particular, his mind was trying to enhance the fuzzy image of the green android that had stolen his time machine.

"WHAT?! IT STOLE THE TIME MACHINE?!" Bulma asked in shock, pressing the cotton ball a little too hard against Trunks' wound, making the teen wince slightly.

"Ah! Yeah, it did. I don't know what it wanted the time machine for, I don't even know where it went, but I'm sorry Mom. I tried to fight him off but he was just too powerful..." Trunks trailed off, only looking away, feeling ashamed of himself for letting the time machine that his mother had worked so hard on fall into the wrong hands, his guilt only piercing into his chest even more once he thought about what the android could want the machine for.

The possibilities were endless, he could have ended up dooming another time line into the hell he was living in.

"Well, I don't know what that android could want with the time machine, but I'll bet anything that it isn't good." Bulma sighed, beginning to wrap her son's arm in a fresh set of bandages.

"I know it took a long time for you to find the supplies for the first one. I'm sorry Mom, I just can't believe I actually let someone take that time machine." The teenager clenched the sheets within his balled fists tightly, nearly enough to rip them, his eyes continuing to glare at the door, but Bulma could tell that the glare in her son's eyes was aimed at himself.

A small sigh escaped her lips, closing the first aid kit, the blunette rose from her seat at her son's bedside and began to walk out of the room. "Don't worry about that now Trunks, all you can do now is to focus on getting better."

"It's not just that! The last time I went into the past, it didn't help anything! The androids were still able to kill the others! Even with my warnings, they were just too strong!" Trunks squeezed his eyes shut, he remembered his last mission all too well, the androids in that time line were too powerful, not even his presence and warnings could save the Z warriors of that time, and the guilt over not being able to prevent their deaths still weighed heavily on his soul.

"You know, if going into the past didn't help, maybe you should try going into the future." Bulma mused, only for Trunks to breath out a heavy sigh.

"But if the androids are still a threat I doubt that there would even be a future for us!"

"You'll never know unless you try Trunks, all I'm saying is that if one option didn't work, maybe you should think outside the box."

"But if I can't time travel anymore then what would be the point of even thinking about it? The time machine was stolen!"

"Hey! That isn't the kind of attitude you should have! Look Trunks, I know things are looking bad right now, but you can't keep blaming yourself for all of this happening! It wasn't your fault that Goku died! It wasn't your fault that these androids were created!" Looking down at her son, Bulma saw Trunks clenching his eyes shut for a moment, only to open them slightly as he felt his mother's hand on his head, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

"I know Gohan would be telling you the same thing if he were here, stop being so hard on yourself. Just try to focus on getting better, alright?" A soft smile spread over the blunette's face, only hearing another soft sigh escape her son's lips.

"Alright Mom. But what are you going to do now? You have that look in your eye again." The teen only earned a small chuckle from his mother as she began her stroll out of the room. "It's gonna be a surprise, I'll show you once you're feeling well enough to walk around." She finished with a wink, closing the door behind her and leaving Trunks to look up at the white ceiling above him, curious about what his mother could be up to now that the time machine was gone, time travel was impossible.

He figured it was for the best though, so far all the machine had helped him do was cause more trouble instead of preventing it, even if he could time travel again, he was beginning to question if this mission was nothing but a big mistake.

_"Gohan, I wish you were here. You always knew what to do, I just don't know what to do anymore."_ Closing his eyes, Trunks let his mind wander, thinking back to the many happy times he had with his mentor before he met his untimely end at the hands of the androids.

There were times when he wanted him back, where he wished that he could go back in time and stay in his time line, just to save Gohan from dying, but knew that was an impossible feat.

He tried to curl himself up, only to wince as a sharp pain stabbed through his right side, Cell has blasted him at point-blank range, the shot alone was nearly enough to kill him.

Knowing that trying to adjust was futile, the lavender-haired teen just kept his eyes closed, trying to relax even a little bit, though the fact that he could have doomed another time line into the hell he was living in made it hard for him to fall asleep. 

* * *

Days have passed since that day, Trunks had made a steady recovery under his mother's watch but began to grow more curious about what his mother had planned for him. Every night he would see the light to her underground laboratory gleaming from under the door.

There were times when he even wondered if she slept, every time he were to try to peek into the lab, the door would be locked or he would be told to just head back to bed by his mother.

Trunks was sitting on his bed, unwrapping the bandages from around his torso, his left side adorned with a large, almost circular scar that began just under his rib cage and ended just above his right hip.

He gently traced over it with his fingers, gazing at himself in a large mirror that was in his bedroom, over the past few days that he had spent recovering, he found himself able to remember the finer details of his encounter with the green android that stole his time machine and nearly killed him.

His eyes narrowed slightly at the scar on his side, it would forever be a reminder of his failure, of how he could have sent another time line into the kind of hell he was forced to live in.

But today was the day, he was fully recovered, and earlier that morning, Bulma told him that the project she had been working so hard on for the past few days was finally ready.

As Trunks tossed aside the bandages that once wrapped around his right arm, he threw on a black tank top and began his descent into his mother's lab, he could hear the sound of a power drill whirring inside the room, and with a small sigh, the lavender-haired teen knocked on the metal door a couple of times.

"Mom? I'm here to see what you made." He was greeted with a proud grin from his mother, who had a small oil stain on her forehead, her blue hair tied back into a messy ponytail and a power drill and socket wrench in both of her hands.

"Just in time! I just finished making the final adjustments!" Bulma set the tools down on the desk next to her, and pointed at what looked like a large machine that was being covered by a large white sheet. "Trunks, are you ready to see what's going to save us?"

"Come on Mom, you've kept this whole thing a big secret for two weeks now, I'm ready to see it." The possibilities of what his mother had created ran through Trunks' mind. If she was capable of building a time machine, heaven knew what else Bulma was capable of creating!

"Alright, feast your eyes on this!" Bulma swiftly yanked the white sheet off of her surprise. Revealing her newest creation to be what appeared to be an arcade game. And from the looks of it, some sort of arcade card game.

"Uh... what is it?" Trunks was at a loss for words, how could a video game help to save their world from being destroyed by the androids? And what could have been going through his mother's mind to have her create this?

"Can't you see? It's a new time machine! Well sort of, it is a time machine. But with these cards I made, the time travel will only work on people with at least a fourth saiyan blood in their veins." Bulma explained, holding a reflective orange card stamped with the Capsule Cooperation logo and had the words 'Hero License' written on the top of the card in black text.

"But how am I supposed to use this?" Trunks walked over to the machine, picking up one of the Hero licenses and looked around it a little bit; still at a loss as to how this was going to help them.

"Well I made you another time machine first off- it's in here." Bulma started, picking up a capsule in her hand and held it out to Trunks; whose eyes widened when he looked at it. "A-Are you serious? How were you able to find the supplies for another Time machine?!"

"A woman has to have her secrets son, besides, it would take too long for me to explain. Anyway, I built you that time machine, I have the coordinates set for Satan City about three hundred years in the future from now; first off, I want you to go there and if it looks like a peaceful time and all life isn't extinct, I want you to leave the time machine there. I'm pretty sure that the people there will take it. And after that, we play the waiting game and see if anyone has at least a fourth saiyan blood in the future." Bulma finished explaining, sitting at her desk and began typing away on a computer in front of her.

"This is your idea? But what if no one comes? what if there is no future because of these androids?!" Trunks quickly asked, only earning a scolding glare from his mother. "Well do you have any better ideas?"

That made him fall silent; he didn't have any other ideas at the moment. Despite his attempts to come up with a solution, he's only fallen short up until now and let out a defeated sigh. "Alright so I just use the time machine again, go into the future and leave these weird cards and the machine there?" He asked, picking up one of the playing cards that had himself on it, making him blush slightly.

He never expected to find his face on a game card.

"Yep! That's pretty much it, the sooner you go, the less we'll have to wait for help so get going." Bulma told him, pressing a button on the side of the machine and with a loud 'Poof!' the machine was gone along with the cards. The supplies being safely tucked away inside of a capsule which she promptly tossed to her son.

"I guess we don't have a lot of options right now. We'd be better off if I hadn't lost the time machine though." Trunks had a more melancholy tone in his voice now, he still felt guilty for losing the original time machine in the first place but was snapped out of his thoughts when Bulma had flicked her finger against Trunks' forehead, making him wince slightly.

"Snap out of it Trunks! What happened, happened, you can't change that. But what you can do now is stop moping and do what I told you to do alright?" She said in a stern tone, only earning a nod from her son. "Right, don't worry Mom, I won't mess up this time." He said, taking both capsules and started heading outside. It was still very early in the morning, the sun had barely risen but the androids scarcely attacked this early in the day so he knew that now was a safe time to go along with her mother's plan.

Once outside, Trunks threw on his signature Capsule Corp jacket over his shoulders, pressing down on the Time Machine's capsule and tossed it on the ground; resulting in a loud 'Poof!' and in a small cloud of smoke, revealed the new time machine.

It looked very similar to the old one, almost an exact copy of the original if Trunks didn't know any better but he figured now wasn't the time to admire his mother's craftsmanship and jumped into the cockpit of the machine.

Looking at the central monitor, he saw that the date he was set to land in was Age 1103, roughly around three hundred years in the future like Bulma had said.

The lavender-haired teen looked at the capsule in his hand, holding within it, the machine his mother had made as well as the strange cards that went along with it. He had to admit, he was skeptical about how well this was going to work; but seeing how horribly the androids had destroyed his time line, he knew that he had the obligation to everyone who had died by their hands to at least try.

He shoved the capsule into the front pocket of his jacket and switched the machine on, and in a matter of seconds, vanished from his home and within the next second, found himself in an entirely new place, at least from the looks of it.

Everywhere he looked, there were large trees, and looking down below, he saw a few forest animals scurrying about; he couldn't remember the last time he had seen a forest like this.

Switching the time machine off, Trunks hopped out of the cockpit of the machine, easily landing on his feet and reverted the machine back into its capsule form and put it safely in his pocket.

Looking at his watch, Trunks could see that he was in a small forest that was located outside of Satan City. But the date was correct, it was Age 1103 like the machine was set for. And so far, he was seeing a great improvement from his own time line.

He wasn't sure if he should let anyone see him flying so he took the time to walk out of the forest, taking in the scenery that he never got the chance to see within his own time line, green grass, the smell of blooming spring flowers, hearing the rustling and chattering of the forest animals that seemed to be thriving.

This was a nice change for him, a small smile spread over his face. But even if this time line was nice, he wasn't sure if there would be saiyans in it or not, but that was something he was going to find out.

After about ten minutes, Trunks found himself looking at something he never thought he would see. Satan City, perfectly peaceful. No destroyed buildings, no wreckage, the last time he had seen Satan City, it was in shambles, completely obliterated by the androids and there were people everywhere! All lining the streets, driving their cars, talking among themselves, it was like as if the androids never existed!

"This is incredible..." He spoke softly to himself, walking down a sidewalk and just looked around the city; there were no signs of destruction or mayhem to be found at all! He couldn't believe this but his mother was right! Spot on this time!

After the initial shock of how peaceful this time line was wore off, Trunks remembered the task at hand; he had to deliver this time machine. But where was he supposed to deliver it to? Bulma wasn't specific on that part, and he had no way of contacting her either.

He took a quick look around, there were all sorts of buildings lining the sidewalk he was walking on. A Karaoke bar, a karate dojo, Chinese restaurant, the list went on and on. But there was one building that sparked his interest; it was a very large arcade, it had the word 'Arcade' written in flashing neon lights, and the size itself was at least as big as a shopping mall!

He figured that this was as good a place as any to leave the time machine and with that, took a step into the arcade. Taking a quick look around, he saw various kids and teenagers enjoying the games. All of them completely carefree and happy; that alone was enough to do his heart some good. All he wanted was a time of peace; it was almost too surreal that his request was granted so easily.

"Excuse me, may I help you find something?" He was snapped out of his thoughts when he spotted a young girl walking over to him, her black hair cut short, and her bangs were perfectly parted to the left with a pair of white hair pins keeping them in place.

He could see that this girl had a kind air around her, he could see it in her eyes and the way she smiled at him. "Uh yeah, where do I go if I have a delivery to make?" He asked, he didn't want to seem too suspicious and he was already wearing the Capsule Corp logo so he was sure he could pull off that he was a worker for the company.

At least he hoped so...

"Oh you can just come to me, I see that you're a member of my family's company. You must be new though, my name is Kimiko Shuurei and the arcade here is owned by my family. If you have a delivery then I can sign for it." The girl smiled back at him.

_"Wait a minute... Did she say her family's company?"_ That thought went through Trunks' mind, how could this belong to her family? Well it was three hundred years from his time, he was sure times had changed quite a few things anyway.

"W-Well that's good, at least I found the right person." Trunks said, taking the capsule out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Kimiko just looked at the capsule for a few moments; seemingly inspecting it. "Strange, this appears to be a fairly old capsule design. I've never seen one like this before. And I don't remember mother or father saying that we were expecting a delivery today."

_"Crap! She's starting to get suspicious! Come on Trunks think of something!"_ Trunks' mind began to race, he wasn't sure what to do if she found out the truth about why he was there! He didn't want to risk screwing up the time line!

"Yo! Kimiko! Hurry up would'ya?! We're getting old over here and I need my Mocha latte or I get bitchy!" Turning over his shoulder, Trunks spotted two other girls who had just walked in, the one who spoke had tanned skin and sharp-looking eyes. Her hair was spiked and tied in a short high ponytail with a yellow tie.

"Come on Kasumi lighten up, God, Kimiko has a job unlike some people." The second girl was of a paler complexion, but she had large black eyes and long black hair tied into a neat ponytail with a red ribbon.

"You do not want to get on my bad side when I am getting pissed over here! Come on girl! Get the guy's number and dump his ass so we can go!" The tanned girl, Kasumi called once again, making Kimiko blush a light shade and clear her throat.

"I-It's not like that! Well as for the delivery, may I see your ID?" Kimiko asked, making Trunks pale slightly, he didn't have any form of ID and even if he did it would just show off that he didn't belong in this time line!

"U-Uh let's see... I know I had it with me somewhere, Oh crap! I must have left it in my car! I'll go get it!" He quickly made up an excuse and began to run out of the store, but as he did, he noticed that the bow-wearing girl; Tsukimi. Just looked at him with wide eyes and a visible blush staining her cheeks but he didn't have time to stick around and quickly made it out of there.

"Ah! Wait!" Kimiko tried to call after him before sighing. "Oh darn, well he did say it was for the store, I better put it in the back." Kimiko mused to herself, walking to a silver door near the back of the store and opened it.

Inside the room were various arcade games lining the walls, some, out of order, some awaiting to be used. She pressed down on the capsule and tossed it at an empty space. Only to look at the cards that came with it.

"Some sort of card game?" She asked, picking up a Hero License and looked around it, only to be snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Kasumi call for her.

"Kimiko! Yo! Kimiko! We got a situation!" The short-haired girl quickly dropped the card and ran out of the store room, only to be shocked when she saw Kasumi, trying to fan Tsukimi; who was lying on the ground, her eyes swirling and her face completely red.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?!"

"Beats the hell out of me! She just passed out and I can't understand her!" Kasumi replied, still fanning the bow-wearing girl who was mumbling slightly.

"...'s him...Trunks..." 

* * *

Trunks had made it back to the forest where the time machine had brought him, he breathed out a relieved sigh when he saw that no one was following him. "Thank God, that was too close." He said, taking the time machine capsule out of his pocket and activated it.

Once the smoke cloud cleared, the time traveling teen jumped into the cockpit, adjusting the return time and date; making sure the time machine would send him back home.

As the machine began to hover off the ground, Trunks just looked back down at the peaceful time. This was what his mother wanted to see all along, this was the sort of time he knew she wanted to live in.

All he could hope for, was that this plan of hers would work, and that the time machine would bring him some help. Not only for him, but for his future as well.

A sad smile spread over his face. _"Mom, Gohan, I wish you two could see this. This is the kind of time I know you two were fighting for."_

And with that thought in his mind, Trunks vanished from the forest, heading back to his own time. Only being left to sit and wait, and hope that someone would answer his time line's call for help like he so desperately wanted.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One.**

**A New Generation of Heroes Are Born! Enter The Dragon Ball Heroes!**

* * *

The sun was high in the sky over Satan City, it seemed that Trunks' interference with the time line hadn't changed the peaceful nature of this future. The year was still Age 1103 just as he left it, and the people who inhabited the city were going about with their normal lives.

The temperature had begun to rise recently, the sound of the cicadas chirping could be heard around the city; signaling the onset of summer once again.

In the center of Satan City, lies the city's most recent great accomplishment; Seven Star Academy. A large prep school that teaches students from grades one through twelve; and it was in a classroom, on one of the lower floors of the building, that a young boy was sitting at his desk, impatiently looking out the window every so often.

This young man's name is Yuuki Yuukanhito, and is a pretty normal thirteen year old boy. Like most thirteen year old boys, he was rather fun-loving and was anxious to hear the school bell ring; which would free him from the cage he called school and begin his summer vacation.

"Come on! Just a couple more minutes!" The black-haired boy looked impatiently at the black and white wall clock that hung above the large blackboard his teacher was writing on; he had long since stopped listening to the lecture, his mind was already in summer mode and was eager for his vacation to start.

The ticking of the clock was always taunting him, his heart was pounding slightly; just thinking of how much fun he was planning on having with his friends this summer. And there was one other thing that he really wanted to do during this summer...

And just as he was finding himself getting lost in his own thoughts, Yuuki quickly looked up from his desk, smiling brightly as the sweet sound of the school alarm hit his ear drums, causing him to quickly grab his backpack and nearly ran out of the classroom; wanting to be the first to start his summer off.

"Finally! I thought class was never gonna end!" He exclaimed happily as he headed towards his locker to empty it out before he was to start his vacation.

"Yo Yuuki!" The spiky-haired boy looked over his shoulder, grinning when he spotted one of his best friends Mamoru Tsukemo, walking over to him and leaned on one of the lockers next to him.

"So what're you planning to do to celebrate getting out of here?" A small chuckle escaped Yuuki's lips at his friend's question. Mamoru was always the type of person who hated to study and if it were up to him, he would be skateboarding all day long instead of being cooped up in some school.

"I don't know yet but I'm up for anything. I can already tell this summer's gonna be awesome!" That same wide grin found its way to Yuuki's face once more as he closed his locker after stuffing all of its contents into his -now overstuffed- backpack.

"I know the feeling! All of that studying just made my head hurt, and I hate this uniform!" Mamoru expressed with a sigh; it was mandatory for every student at Seven Star Academy to wear a uniform. For the boys it was pretty standard, black slacks, white dress shirt, and a red, black, and white striped blazer with the school's badge pinned on the front, the signature golden dragon mascot of the school.

"Why the hell can't we just wear our normal clothes? These clothes are just plain uncomfortable!" Mamoru sighed, his blazer was left open; he never enjoyed keeping his blazer closed.

"I know but think about it, for three months we won't have to wear these. So enjoy it while you can." Yuuki chuckled as he started walking down the hallway with his long-haired friend following after him.

"It's not just the clothes! The teachers keep bitching about my hair! It's my damned hair! I'm not cutting it! They're probably just jealous that they can't have awesome hair like this." The tanned bow spoke proudly with a smirk; his black hair was very long and spiked; resembling Raditz's hairstyle and reaching down to the small of his back.

"You have to admit Mamoru, it is kind of long don't you think? Don't you get hot with all that hair in the summer?" Yuuki asked with a slightly confused look.

"Not really, I guess it reflects most of the sun's rays away from me so nope, I don't get hot." Mamoru said proudly as he spotted one of the two's close friends coming out of the school library.

"Oh there you are Akihiko! What the heck are you doing in the library?" Yuuki asked, walking over to the boy as he closed the door to the library behind him.

"I wanted to make sure all of the books I borrowed from the school library were returned before the school closed." Akihiko Chino was what the girls would call, the smart one of the three. His blazer was neatly buttoned up, his white shirt perfectly tucked in, and it seemed that not even a single black hair on his head strayed out of place from just above his shoulders where it could reach.

"Oh God you are such a nerd dude! Live a little! There's more to life than books!" Mamoru offered with a grin, wrapping one of his arms around his friend's shoulders, only earning a small defeated sigh from the paler boy.

"Yes, yes, you tell me that every day but I cannot seem to learn." Akihiko had learned long ago that it was pointless to argue with Mamoru on school topics. Everything he would say would go in one ear and out the other.

"So Akihiko, have any plans?" Yuuki asked as the three boys began to make their way out of the school.

"Not really, I was simply going to review my research for the chemistry project we were assigned before the start of our vacation." Akihiko replied simply; he tended to speak in long, intricate sentences, which some of his friends would say is just a way of showing off his high intelligence.

"Dude, we need to find you a girlfriend and fast." Mamoru said with a sigh, shaking his head which rested in his palm.

"And if I am not interested in a relationship right now?" Akihiko retorted in a slightly annoyed tone in his voice as he stepped down from the steps.

"Come on Akihiko, there has to be someone you like. Maybe a girlfriend would help mellow you out?" Yuuki offered with a smile; only for Akihiko to breath out a sigh and glance away from their direction.

"I do not need a relationship right now. I just need to focus on my schoolwork if I want to get into into a good college." That reply just made both Yuuki and Mamoru sigh in exasperation once more; following after their friend.

"There's more to life than grades. You should know that by now Akihiko." Yuuki smiled, starting his walk down the sidewalk and looking towards the football field where he saw Kimiko, wearing her soccer team uniform and practicing her high kicks with the other members of the team.

"Never thought Kimiko would join the soccer team but she does have the leg strength for it." Mamoru noted; watching as the short-haired girl jumped up, flipping her body over and swiftly kicking the soccer ball that was heading her way into the net on the other side of the field, surprising the rest of the team.

"She has a talent for soccer; and it is good that she is getting some form of exercise; it will keep her healthy." Akihiko added, seemingly watching the girl's movements with a little more attention than he was showing earlier.

"I wonder where Tsukimi and Kasumi went off to? Are they still stuck in class? Maybe we should've waited for them." Yuuki thought aloud, looking at the school building and then back at the soccer field when he saw the bow-wearing girl and the tanned girl walking over to Kimiko once the rest of the soccer team was beginning to disperse; signaling that practice was over.

"Looks like we left at the right time. Figures they'd go after Kimiko." Mamoru chuckled, walking towards the school gate and easily began climbing it and jumped over it, landing on the ground easily and proceeded to unlock the gate for Yuuki and Akihiko to walk in.

"You know, it is still technically within school hours. You did not have to resort to breaking in." Akihiko spoke, walking past Mamoru who just snickered. "Yeah, but that kills the fun."

"Oh hey Yuuki! Akihiko! Mamoru!" A blush spread over Yuuki's face; seeing Tsukimi smile and wave at him, motioning him and the other two boys to come over with a happy-looking smile on her face.

That was the one thing Yuuki wanted to achieve during this summer; he wanted a summer romance. And the girl with the red bow in her hair was the object of his unrequited affections.

"Dude, when are you gonna man up and ask Tsukimi out?" Mamoru was the one to snap Yuuki out of his thoughts; only making the blush staining the boy's cheeks grow a shade darker. " Are you nuts?! I can't just ask her out like that! I've known Tsukimi since I was a kid, if I ask her out now, I'd just be making things awkward between us...And the last thing I want is to lose her." Yuuki breathed out a melancholy sigh, running his hand through his spiked hair.

"So you're just gonna let some other guy come in and ask her out? I know what I'm telling you, you have to at least tell her how you feel Yuuki. If you don't, you might just lose her." Mamoru added; Yuuki looking ahead at the three girls talking among themselves, and Tsukimi giggling a couple of times. That sweet sound that invaded his eardrums, he found that nothing could make his heart race more than seeing Tsukimi's smile.

"Don't worry about it, right now I'm just gonna pretend I don't like her. If I see that she actually does like me back, I'll ask her out. But only when I'm sure that she likes me back." Yuuki said with a newly-determined expression on his face.

Akihiko on the other hand, just looked onward at the three girls talking among each other, his jet black eyes trailing towards Kimiko for a moment; only for them to shift to a boy, wearing his school's uniform walking towards the girls.

His black hair tied back in a small ponytail with his bangs framing his face, a confident air wafted around this boy, and his light blue eyes were focused exclusively on Kimiko.

That boy was his cousin, Satoshi.

"Oh hello Satoshi, are you having a nice day so far?" Kimiko asked in her usual polite tone, giving the blue-eyes boy a smile and only earning a grin in return.

"Well my day got a lot better since I saw you. I have to say Kimiko, your high kicks are pretty incredible. The soccer team is lucky to have you." Satoshi easily worked his way onto the bench where the three girls were sitting, taking a spot next to Kimiko.

"Oh I wouldn't exactly say that. I do enjoy playing the game." Kimiko had a light blush tinting her cheeks as she spoke. And Satoshi's eyes seemed to trail over her every movement and mannerisms; almost as if he were taking a mental picture of her that he could always keep with him.

"You know I would love to see you put that kicking skill to good use Kimiko, but on a guy." Kasumi said with a smirk, only making the short-haired girl's blush even worse.

"I-I couldn't do something like that! It would be wrong and painful for the boy!" She objected, only making Kasumi chuckle a little harder as she glanced at Satoshi. "You sure you don't want to be her test dummy?"

"I think I'll pass for today but thanks for the offer. Your company's always the highlight of my day Kasumi." Satoshi spoke with a small smirk spread over his lips, and Kasumi could tell right away that the tone he was using was sarcastic but she decided that she was going to let it go- for now at least.

"Hey girls and Satoshi, what's up?" Mamoru, Yuuki, and Akihiko were walking over to the group; Akihiko giving a small warning glance to his cousin who only kept that same friendly smile on his face and kept eye contact with his younger cousin as he sat down.

"Nothing much, but it is nice to already be on vacation. Not that I'm gonna do a lot of relaxing though. The dojo gets more customers during the summer so I'm gonna be busy teaching classes." Tsukimi sighed, placing her chin in her hand.

Her late father had left her in charge of his martial arts dojo, it wasn't anything too fancy but it was enough to help her mother pay the bills and she did enjoy martial arts.

"Well do you want me to go over and help you out Tsukimi? You've been trying to train me since you met me. Even though you still kick my butt." Yuuki chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head; the ghost of a blush was still barely visible on his cheeks but was hoping that Tsukimi didn't notice.

"Well all I know is that summer means more chances to fill up the pages in my book. I'm planning to at least write three chapters worth this summer." Kasumi said, a proud tone in her voice and dug into her black backpack and pulled out what appeared to be a leather-bound black book that could easily be the size of an encyclopedia.

The others often wondered how she is able to obtain such large books but as they have learned over their years of being friends with Kasumi; some questions are better left unasked.

But all they did know is that inside that black book was nothing but a plethora of pranks that she often used to make the lives of the rest of the student body miserable, or anyone who dared to get on her bad side.

"Yeah that sounds great. I'm just gonna kick back and chill the whole summer, I earned this relaxation time!" Mamoru declared, only earning a scoff from Kasumi. "Do nothing but rest and you'll be a fatass when you come back to school in the fall. You'll just end up breaking your skateboard when you try to ride it."

"Hey! I am not fat! You wish you could have a body like mine!"

"Yeah, a body with more hair than a carpet on it, ever girl's dream." Kasumi rolled her eyes before looking at Akihiko and Satoshi who seemed to be locked in eye contact, perhaps trying to mentally will the other into backing down.

"So Satoshi. I trust that everything at your manor is going well. I can tell that your grades have begun improving since the school year began." Akihiko was the first to start the conversation and break the tension between them.

"Glad you noticed. Even though we can't all be geniuses like you are Aki, but we can only try. Hotaru's really been helping me out with my homework, I didn't think she was that smart but that girl never ceases to surprise me." The blue-eyed boy said with a fond chuckle.

"Speaking of Hotaru, where is she?" Tsukimi asked, taking a quick glance around the football field to see if the girl was around and surely enough; a slightly paler girl was walking over to them, her chestnut brown hair was cut as short as Kimiko's and her bangs parted to the right instead of the left. Her piercing blue eyes seemed to be glaring slightly at Satoshi who took the signal and got up from his seat.

"Speak of the devil. Gotta go, be sure to call me later Kimiko, I know you got my number." Satoshi grinned at Kimiko before taking his leave, following Hotaru out of the school's football field.

"He really is nice, but I wonder why he would want me to call him?" Kimiko mused to herself, only earning a sigh from Kasumi. "Kimiko, he was asking you out! He totally likes you! How can you not see that?!"

"Oh I'm sure it isn't anything romantic like that. Besides I'm not really looking for a relationship right now." Kimiko finished with a hint of a blush on her cheeks, taking a small glance at Akihiko who seemed to be watching Satoshi and Hotaru leave.

* * *

"Come on Hotaru, how long are you gonna ice me out?" Satoshi urged, following his brunette friend down the sidewalk and away from the school; the brunette just kept silent for a moment until she stopped walking at a crosswalk, waiting for the signal to say it was safe to proceed.

"I don't know what your problem is Hotaru, you get pissy around Kimiko and I just don't get it. You two have a fight or something?" Satoshi asked, putting his hands behind his head and walking onward when the light switched to green.

"No, it was nothing like that... Don't worry about it." Hotaru finally spoke, keeping her eyes locked on the path she was taking ahead of her. Trying to avoid eye contact with Satoshi for the moment.

"Well whatever, looks like we got some time off from school. So anything you want to do tonight? Maybe something special?" Satoshi asked with his same cheerful grin spread over his face as his eyes trailed over to the girl walking next to him.

"I can't really think of anything special that we could do. Maybe a nice dinner?" Hotaru suggested, thinking aloud for the most part.

"Nah, that sounds kind of boring, I mean we're teenagers! we're supposed to go out and have the time of our lives!" Satoshi exclaimed, throwing his hands up for effect before sighing. "Now if only we could figure out what to do."

"...Maybe if I were more of a social butterfly instead of a wallflower, we would get invited to more parties and such." Hotaru mumbled to herself, glancing down at her feet, only to blush slightly when she felt her raven-haired friend wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"Hey don't worry about that Hotaru, it's no big deal. Besides I've been to some of those parties, talk about bores." Satoshi chuckled, flashing Hotaru that same bright smile, the smile that unknowingly, brought a tint of a blush upon the brunette's pale cheeks, only causing her to glance away slightly, trying hide it even a little bit.

"Hey, there's an idea." Satoshi stopped, looking at the large arcade the two were approaching and looked to Hotaru with a slight smirk as he pulled a Hero license out of his pocket. "Wanna try out that new game? We did buy the starter pack."

"I have been a little curious about the game. Everyone's been talking about it in school." Hotaru said, looking at the arcade as she started walking in, reaching into her black bag and pulled out her own hero lisence.

* * *

"So much for spending time together to kick off summer. Mamoru has to babysit his little sister, Akihiko's hell-bent on finishing his Chemistry project, Tsukimi went to work, Kasumi's going to make people's lives miserable and Kimiko's no better than Akihiko. Just my luck." Yuuki breathed out a sigh, walking down the sidewalk that was leading to his house.

He did partly expect this though, he knew all of his friends had other plans but he did hope that they could at least spend time together even a little bit due to summer starting.

"Hey! I'm home!" The spiky-haired boy called, opening the door to his house and slipped off his shoes at the front entrance.

"Hey, didn't expect to see you home so early, no plans?" Yuuki's sixteen-year old brother Isamu, walked over to Yuuki, wearing a set of large headphones over his ears and was already changed out of his school uniform from the looks of it.

"Not really, all my friends were busy so it looks like I'm starting summer off with an all-night gaming session." Yuuki sighed, taking off his blazer and started walking up the stairs towards his room.

"Well Mom's gonna be home late, she's pulling a double shift at the diner so looks like we're on our own for dinner tonight, pizza cool?" Isamu asked, walking to the couch and sat down as he shoved his mp3 player into the pocket of his skinny jeans.

"Yeah that's fine with me, just don't try putting hot sauce on my half again!" Yuuki called, walking into his room and set his bag on the floor next to his bed.

"This sucks~! I wanted to do something fun with everyone! Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow." The boy sighed, lying back in his bed, only turning slightly and smiled softly at the picture that was on his nightstand.

It was taken back when he was six years old, shortly after he met Tsukimi when she and her family moved to Satan City. The two were smiling happily at the camera, Tsukimi having her arm around Yuuki's shoulders and grinning happily at the camera.

"Tsukimi... Damn it, why does she have to be so cute?" Yuuki muttered to himself, picking up one of his pillows and hugged it in his arms. There were times he wished that he didn't feel this way towards Tsukimi, the last thing he wanted was to lose the closest friend he has because of the way his heart would pound whenever he thought of her.

He knew he needed to do something about his feelings, but he didn't have any ideas on what would work without them making things awkward between himself and Tsukimi.

* * *

"I know I saw him! I knew he wasn't just some delivery guy!" Tsukimi ran into her room, tossing her backpack onto her bed and quickly reached under the fluffy brown teddy bear that sat on the corner of her bed, and from it, pulled out what looked to be a game card.

The card featured future Trunks, holding his sword in an attacking position, and his lavender hair was now longer, reaching past his shoulders.

"That man was Trunks! The actual Trunks! I can't believe I actually saw him in real life! He is even cuter than he is on the card! I wish I could meet him again!... or that I didn't pass out after I saw him." Tsukimi said, holding the card in her hand with a bright smile and a blush staining her cheeks.

"He is so incredibly hot! If I could just meet him again my life would be complete!" She said happily, holding the card to her chest before bringing up to her eyes once more. "I know that it was you I saw, but how could that even be possible? you're not real... are you Trunks?"

* * *

"Ugh... the hell happened?" Satoshi slowly opened his blue eyes; looking around at his new surroundings, he found himself in a forest of some sort, and directly to the west of them was a large mountain structure, he could tell that they were close to North City; that was the only city with large mountains bordering it from his knowledge.

"How the hell did we get out here?" He wondered to himself, only for his eyes to widen slightly when he remembered that Hotaru was with him before he fell unconscious and quickly started looking around the area. "Hotaru?! Hey Hotaru!" He called, spotting the brunette lying on the ground near a large tree and quickly rushed over to her.

"Hotaru! Come on wake up? You alright?" He asked, a concerned tone in his voice as he gently picked up the girl in his arms, only to sigh in relief as she slowly opened her icy blue eyes.

"..Satoshi?... what happened?" She asked, holding her head slightly before looking around at the large trees that were surrounding them. "Weren't we at the arcade?"

"Yeah I thought we were. I don't know what happened; we just started playing that video game and all of a sudden we just passed out and woke up here." Satoshi said, looking around a bit at the area around them as she got up.

"But how could we get here? I mean, we're just outside of North City aren't we?" Hotaru asked, still looking around at the area with a confused expression.

"I think we are, but we better find a way to get home before it gets too late." Satoshi said as he got up and started walking towards one of the mountains. "I hope I can get a signal around here, maybe if I call Kain he can come pick us up." The blue-eyed boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing his home number.

"We're sorry, but the number you have entered is invalid; please check the number and try again."

"What the hell? What's going on?" Satoshi looked at his cell phone with a confused expression. "I know I dialed the number right, how the hell can it be invalid?" He asked himself, dialing the number once more, but was met with the same automatic message.

"What's wrong Satoshi?" Hotaru walked over, already with a slightly concerned look on her face.

"I can't get through, it's like my house number doesn't exist or something. But this is bad, we can't get out of here without a car or something." He said, looking around the area and spotted a cave in one of the montain ledges.

"Looks like we're camping out tonight until we can find a way to get home." He sighed, putting his phone back in his pocket and started climbing up one of the ledges.

"But a cave? Are you sure about this Satoshi?" Hotaru asked, watching as the raven-haired boy began scaling the mountain.

"Think about it this way; we can't stay out in the forests; there's probably bears and other wild animals running around. I'd rather be safe than comfortable." Satoshi replied simply as he continued to climb up the mountain ledges.

Hotaru just breathed out a defeated sigh; Satoshi had a point. And she didn't want to be eaten by some wild animal either so she began climbing up the same path as Satoshi until Satoshi landed on a mountain ledge, looking ahead with slight surprise when he saw a set of large steel doors at the end of the cavern he walked into.

"Hey Hotaru. Check this out." Was all he spoke, his eyes still fixated on the large steel doors that were at the end of the cave.

"Woah... These doors are huge. I wonder what's on the other side?" Hotaru climbed onto the ledge; her eyes widening slightly when she started walking towards the giant steel doors and looked curiously at the panel on the doors with a set of numbered buttons on it.

"Looks like whatever's in here is password-protected." Satoshi walked towards the panel and started pressing in a random number combination he just thought of. To his surprise, the panel flashed a couple of times before flashing green and the steel doors began to open slowly.

"How did you know the password?" Hotaru asked in surprise; only for Satoshi to chuckle nervously and rub the back of his head. "Honestly I just punched in a bunch of random numbers."

Once the doors were open, the two were shocked to see what looked like a large laboratory inside of the cave. All around them they could hear the sounds of computers beeping, and three large capsules labeled with the numbers sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen were at the end of the room.

"No way... This place is incredible, look at all this equipment, it's like something out of a sci-fi novel." Satoshi said, looking around the lab as Hotaru walked over to one of the large silver capsules. As she looked inside the red window, her eyes widened when she saw who appeared to be a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair lying inside of it.

"Satoshi... I think this is Dr. Gero's lab." She spoke with shock evident in her voice. "No way, Dr. Gero's supposed to be some made up character! There's no way that this can be his actual lab." Satoshi said, still looking around the room before spotting a smaller capsule that lie forgotten in the corner of the lab.

"But I just saw Android 18! This is Gero's lab Satoshi! We should leave!" Hotaru exclaimed before seeing that Satoshi was looking at the smaller capsule in the corner of the room with intregue.

"Okay, looks like you're right. But I never remembered seeing someone like this. Do you Hotaru?" He asked, looking inside of the smaller capsule; seeing what appeared to be a Cell Jr.- looking creature but with a purple color scheme and had the same mouth piece as Imperfect Cell. The name stamped on top of the capsule read 'Gerome'.

"No, he kind of looks like a miniature version of Cell. But I don't know if we should be in here. If Gero's lab is still here, that must mean he isn't that far away." Hotaru had a slightly concerned tone in her voice and just blinked when she saw Satoshi push the large red button next to the capsule, activating the Android inside and the capsule slowly began to open.

"Are you insane! What if it'll kill us?!" The brunette yelled as Satoshi stood back up and watched the capsule open. "Don't worry, I don't think he will. I just have this gut feeling that we'll be friends."

"You better be right about this Satoshi, if we die I am going to be giving you such a hard time in heaven." Hotaru grumbled; watching as the capsule opened up; the android inside- Gerome- began opening his red eyes.

But it was evident that this android had been through a lot; he was visibly injured, his right arm was bleeding purple blood, one of his eyes was completely swollen and nearly shut due to the extent of the swelling; he had scratches and bruises all over his body as well.

"Hey buddy, you don't look so good. You okay?" Satoshi asked; being completely casual towards the android as Gerome stood up from his capsule and took one glance around the room before looking back at the two who had awakened him.

"...Leave..." His voice was slightly raspy; as if he had done a lot of screaming before speaking, leaving his voice very hoarse sounding.

"What're you talking about? Why should we leave?" Hotaru asked, only for her eyes to widen when she heard another voice echo in the room.

"... Dr. Gero, he will kill you both..." The android spoke weakly in reply, only sitting down in front of the two to try and conserve his strength.

"Don't worry, we were gonna leave. But we're taking you with us." Satoshi decided, only to have Hotaru look at him with a confused expression. "But why should we take him with us Satoshi?"

"Because he's hurt, just look at him Hotaru the guy can barely stand! Besides I think he'd like living with us, we wouldn't beat the crap out of him like I'm sure that old fart did." Satoshi said before looking back at Gerome. "So what do you say Gerome? Wanna come with us?"

"... Why are you two offering me shelter?..." The purple android looked up at the two with a slightly confused expression. All he knew was being beaten by Nineteen to prove his strength and being deemed a failure by the man who had created him.

"Because we want you to be our friend." Satoshi smiled back at him; not even he could explain it, but he felt as though he had a connection with Gerome, and knew that the purple android could use some friends.

"If Satoshi is sure about this, then I can't really complain. He is a good judge of character." Hotaru added, only letting out a defeated sigh. She had her qualms about letting Gerome stay with them, but not even should could refuse someone who was this badly beaten up.

"... friend." The word rolled off Gerome's tongue; that was a word he had never heard before. No one wanted to be his friend; he was just another experiment gone wrong, but for some reason in the eyes of these two; he could feel that he was not a failure... But an actual living being for the first time since he was created.

Slowly, he rose from his sitting position; only offering an agreeing nod to the two before quickly looking to the doorway when he heard footsteps approaching and got into a defensive stance.

"Well, looks like we have a couple of intruders. And they've awakened that failure of mine. I should have destroyed that useless heap when I had the chance. Nineteen; go deal with the intruders. Make sure they do not reveal anything they saw." Dr. Gero himself was standing in the open doorway of the lab; his large pale sidekick Android 19, was standing next to him and began walking towards the two kids; who had grown a shade paler from the shock and were slowly backing away with wide eyes as they looked at the android getting closer to them.

"W-Wait a minute! We won't tell anyone about this place! We'll just leave!" Satoshi said quickly, backing up towards the capsules along with Hotaru; and as he did that, Gero smirked slightly, seeing the resemblance the two had to Seventeen and Eighteen.

At that moment, as Nineteen extended his hand to the two; Gerome rushed in, swiftly kicking Nineteen a couple of inches away from the two and standing in front of them in a battle-ready stance.

"Even now you still dare to defy me Gerome? Nineteen, take care of that reject; I think I may have found my newest android models." Gero said with a smirk as both Satoshi and Hotaru's eyes widened, they quickly took the chance that Gerome had given them and tried to run away from the androids, bolting past Android Nineteen but they both blinked when they found themselves being grabbed by their shirt collars by Dr. Gero.

A low growl escape Gerome's throat; he rushed towards the larger android, delivering a flurry of punches only for one of his punches to be caught by Nineteen, and with little effort, the pale Android smirked and kicked Gerome harshly in the stomach; making him cough up a small amount of blood and fall onto the floor.

The purple android glared sharply back at Gero, trying to pick himself up but his injuries were too great, the wind had been knocked out of him completely and found it hard to even breath.

"... Satoshi... Hotaru... "

"Ah yes, you two will make fine androids. Count yourself grateful, I rarely use human subjects for androids anymore." Gero smirked as the two kids tried to get out of the man's grip.

"Let us go! We don't want to be androids!" Satoshi yelled, trying to punch the old man but found that his punches hardly did anything to him.

The old man's eyes flashed for a second; the smirk on his face only growing wider. "I really am lucky today aren't I? I never expected these two to have such blood coursing through their veins."

"Let us go!" Hotaru screamed, thrashing wildly against the old man's grip and managing to escape when the back of her white dress shirt ripped; freeing herself from his grip.

"Satoshi!" She yelled; stopping for a moment only for the blue-eyed boy to yell back at her. "Forget about me! Get out of here now!"

Hesitating for a moment; Hotaru bit her lip and chose to listen to her friend and began her bolt out of the lab; only to be stopped when she bumped into Android Nineteen and roughly picked up by her neck by the pale android.

"Hotaru!" Satoshi screamed in horror; actually going as far as to rip his own shirt to free himself from Gero's grip and rushed over to the two. "LET GO OF HER YOU BASTARD!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to punch the android as hard as he could but only found the android to frown at him; grabbing him by his own neck and hold him up.

"Shall I dispose of them?" The pale android asked in his usual monotonic voice; the two kids struggling as hard as they could to get free from his grip.

"No; I believe they will prove useful to me." Gero replied simply; only for his silver eyes to trail back to Gerome; who was trying to pick himself up, his forehead bleeding slightly and holding is clearly broken arm.

"...Release... Them..." He spoke weakly, his red eyes glaring back at the mad scientist in front of him.

"You have outlived your usefulness to me Gerome. You are nothing but an utter failure I should have destroyed long ago." Gero growled; walking over to the purple android and grabbed him by his neck, holding him up and walking towards the open doorway and out to the ledge of the mountain.

"You are dismissed Gerome." The doctor said simply, dropping the purple android off of the high ledge.

"GEROME!" Both Satoshi and Hotaru screamed after the android; watching as Gero closed the steel doors and smirked at the captive kids. "Time to get to work."

As the steel doors closed; Gerome was shown to be lying on the grass, bleeding heavily from his right arm and not having the strength to pick himself up off the ground.

Regret was shown on his face; the last thing he wanted was to leave those two at the mercy of Dr. Gero. But knew that he didn't have the strength to fight against Nineteen.

His eyes slowly began to close, his vision getting blurry as he let unconsciousness wash over him, enveloping him in nothing but silent darkness.

"... Satoshi... Hotaru..."

The last thing he saw before closing his eyes were the kind smiles the two had offered him; the kindness that they had given him.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oh wow, this is easily one of the longest chapters that I've written in a while! I think I could've done better with the last scene though but I'm happy with how this chapter turned out!**

**I wanted to add some drama here with the android characters, I just love their designs and I have so much planned for these three even though they aren't going to be the main characters- well they are main characters but the main protagonist is going to be Yuuki. **

**At least that's what I have planned anyway. **

**So enjoy the chapter and feel free to leave a review! I want to know if I'm doing a good job with this story! ^^**


	3. Chapter 2

**Akihiko's Concern! Satoshi and Hotaru are missing?!**

* * *

Akihiko was lying on his bed, staring at the cell phone in his hand, just waiting for a certain phone call or even a simple text message from his cousin. It was a sort of ritual the two boys had, every night they would call or text each other, just converse with each other and take the time to chat.

Looking at the clock on his wall, a small sigh left Akihiko's lips, it was already two hours past the time Satoshi would normally call or text him. "Perhaps his cell phone is dead." He concluded to himself, taking it upon himself to call his cousin and waited for the dial tone.

If Satoshi's phone was dead, his call would just send him straight to voice mail. But to his surprise, Akihiko heard an automatic message come on his phone.

_"We're sorry; but the number you have dialed is out of your calling range."_

That was enough to make Akihiko look at his phone's screen in disbelief. How could his call be out of his calling range? Satoshi just lived two blocks down the street from his own house!

"Out of my calling range?" Akihiko repeated to himself, getting up from his bed and shoving his phone into his pocket and looked at the forgotten homework that lay on his desk next to his bookcase.

Since the two hours had passed, Akihiko found himself unable to concentrate on studying at all, every time he would sit down to write, he would just find himself looking at his phone and checking every few minutes or so and see if he had accidentally set it to vibrate.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked back at the black clock that hung on his wall, just ticking away, the minutes going by.

"Perhaps Hotaru can explain this." Akihiko breathed out a sigh, dialing Hotaru's number into his phone and calling the girl. Only for a small growl to escape his throat when he met with the same automatic message once again.

_"We're sorry; but the number you have dialed is out of your calling range."_

That was enough to make Akihiko begin to worry slightly, there was only one option left that he hadn't tried yet; going over to Satoshi's house to see what was going on.

And with his mind made up, the raven-haired boy shoved his phone into his pocket and quickly walked out of his bedroom and began his descent down the large staircase of his home.

_"There has to be a logical explanation for this. Satoshi would not just ignore my calls, and how could both he and Hotaru's numbers be considered 'out of my calling range'? That simply does not make sense."_

While he was thinking to himself, Akihiko walked towards the front door, passing by one of the maids his family hired. "Saffron, I am going to Satoshi's manor, please tell Mother and Father I may be late for dinner." Was all the boy spoke before walking out the door.

The woman just looked after him, her fiery red hair tied into a high ponytail, and her right eye covered by an eye patch. "Very well Young Master." Was all she said as she watched Akihiko go off and down the sidewalk.

Akihiko's family owned half of Capsule Corporation; the other half belonging to Kimiko's family. His family's success often led to rumors being spread around Seven Star Academy that his family simply payed the school off in order for him to get in. But his test scores did the speaking for him.

And as such, he lived in the gated community of the city along with the other families that were more stable financially, including Satoshi.

But at the moment, his mind was beginning to race; all he wanted to know was if his cousin was safe and sound. There were times when similar events would transpire, that Satoshi would end up going missing for a few days for various reasons, getting on the wrong bus, deciding to go camping out of nowhere, even something like getting lost at the mall has happened to Satoshi before; the latter of which still confused Akihiko to this day but this time it felt different...

He could tell that something was wrong.

Once he arrived at Satoshi's own manor, he slowly walked up the steps leading to the front door; in the back of his mind, he was praying that his cousin would come out of his manor, greet him with a grin and then playfully tease him about still being single.

But as he got closer to the door, it remained shut, he didn't even hear any other footsteps other than his own approaching the door.

_"Please be here Satoshi... Quash my inhibitions." _Akihiko prayed in the back of his mind; finally making it to the doorstep and rung the doorbell.

The seconds that passed seemed almost like an eternity; the uncertainty that was but a faint feeling inside the depths of his chest had become more pulsating against his heart.

"Yes? May I help you?" The head butler of Satoshi's estate was the one to answer the door, much to Akihiko's chagrin but he tried to keep his calm composure.

"Yes, do you know where your young master is, Helia?" He called the large man by his name; the man simply ran his hand through his slicked back black hair and looked back at Akihiko with the ghost of concern haunting his features.

"No. The young Master and mistress have not returned home yet today." Those words made Akihiko's eyes widen slightly but managed to keep his calm demeanor, he did not want to out himself as being too worried about his cousin.

"I see... Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"No, but this matter does concern me. It is unlike the young master to be this late in returning home."

"I see... Well I will hope he returns soon. Thank you for your time." Akihiko finished, simply turning away and walking away from the manor. That uneasy feeling was now beginning to show on his face. He knew something was wrong, he just didn't know what that was yet.

He quickly took his cell phone out of his pocket and began texting; all while going down the sidewalk back to his house.

_"There is something else going on, I just have that feeling in the pit of my stomach; I cannot deal with this along though." _Akihiko had finished typing his text message before sending it to his friends.

_"Satoshi and Hotaru have gone missing. I fear something serious may have happened to them. I purpose a search party throughout the city. But we have to hurry. I fear the worst."_

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, Akihiko breathed out a small sigh as he looked at the sky. _"Satoshi, why am I so concerned about your well-being this time?" _

Even he had to admit this was unlike him. But the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach was the driving force for most of his actions; he wasn't sure where Satoshi was, and in truth- he often thought of Satoshi as more of a brother than a cousin.

The two were very close, they always had been ever since they were children; Akihiko being the more introverted person while Satoshi was always outgoing.

He wouldn't know what to do if he ever lost Satoshi like this... That unease he felt was getting no better and knew that something had happened.

* * *

"It's only been a few days Trunks, don't be so impatient." Bulma was typing away on her computer, watching to see if any of the people who had the Hero Licenses had traveled in time.

It had only been a few days in their time; but Bulma still had faith that her plan had to work. This was the only option that they had left for their time line.

Trunks was impatiently sitting at the kitchen table; glaring down at the cup of coffee in his hands. The waiting had been maddening for him! He wanted to know if this was going to work or not! He wanted to know that he could save another time line from the hell the androids had created for himself and his mother.

"I know but I feel like I shouldn't just sit here and do nothing!" Trunks sighed frustratingly, he knew that this kind of a plan was a big stretch, but just knowing that there was the chance that another time line could be saved brought him some comfort.

But the waiting was beginning to wear on his nerves slightly.

"Hm? Hey Trunks, come take a look at this." Trunks got up from his seat, watching as two small green lights appeared on the computer screen.

"What am I looking at?" He asked, only for Bulma to continue typing away on her computer before turning to face him.

"According to this, the hero licensees have been used. Two of them to be exact, and that they are somewhere in the past, around the time before the androids are supposed to arrive maybe a year before." Bulma concluded as she looked at the two green flashing dots on her computer screen. "And according to this, they're in the mountains near North City."

"Well that's weird, why are they in North City? I thought the cards were supposed to send them here?" Trunks looked at the screen with a confused expression.

"Well that's the thing, the cards were supposed to send anyone with at least a 4th saiyan blood into the past before the androids are set to appear. But I can't control the location, that just happens at random."

"Maybe I should go there and check on them." Trunks said as he began walking out, only to be stopped by his mother grabbing his wrist. "You can't! I barely have enough fuel in the time machine for one more trip to the past, you can't waste it Trunks. Besides, look right here." Bulma turned back to her desk and clicked on the dots on the screen, making two small information cards appear on the screen.

"According to this, their life force is perfectly fine. They're in no danger and besides, the androids aren't in that time line yet so I'm sure they're alright." Bulma smiled slightly as she then looked at the information that appeared on the screen.

"They look a little young though, the boy is fourteen and the girl is thirteen." Trunks said, looking at the information on both Satoshi and Hotaru that had appeared on the screen until Bulma clicked on the info cards, showing the pictures of the two, only making Trunks' eyes widen slightly as well as Bulma's.

"The boy... He looks almost exactly like Android 17!" Trunks said in shock, he honestly didn't know if that was a good sign or not! According to the screen, the boy did have at least a 4th saiyan blood in his veins but he had no idea what that could mean.

"I know... But I'm sure he has to be good, I mean even if he does look like Android 17, that can't mean anything. That might just be a coincidence." Bulma closed the window, she figured that it would be better not to look a gift horse in the mouth, if they had the chance to receive help from the past then she was going to take it!

"Yeah, you might be right Mom. But just two kids aren't going to be enough, maybe we should wait for a few more just to be sure." Trunks wanted to play it safe this time, he didn't want to risk going into the past just for his plan to blow up in his face like it has before.

"You're right, besides the cards can take them back to their time whenever they want so I'm sure those two are perfectly fine." Bulma concluded, turning her computer off, she had a good feeling about this plan, she just had that feeling that things would work out for the better.

* * *

Gerome still lie on the ground, a pool of his own purple blood that had accumulated under him.

His red eyes slowly began to open, his left one was still swollen from the punch he had received from Android 19 and could barely open.

All he could feel was excruciating pain coursing through his body, he could barely find the strength to pick himself up; that is, until he remembered how he got so injured in the first place. Trying to protect Satoshi and Hotaru from suffering a fate worse than death.

"I can't... Leave them..." Despite the intense pain that stabbed into his body with every move he made, Gerome began forcing himself up off the ground; everything hurt, it hurt for him to breath, it hurt for him to even more or blink his eyes, but he didn't care.

The only thing he was interested in was making sure those two were safe, the new friends he had just made, the two who had actually treated him as a living being, who saw him as more than just an android, than an artificial being, more than just a failed experiment.

"_So what do you say Gerome, wanna come with us?"_

Satoshi's voice continued to ring within his mind, he could never forget the kindness the two had showed to him in that brief moment, but that was more than he had ever encountered during his whole life.

The bio-android only made it a couple of steps before wincing at a sharp pain that stabbed through his broken leg, causing him to fall to his knees and back onto the grassy forest floor once more.

"Why?... I am an android... Not meant to feel pain... So why...?" Gerome looked at his bloody hand, he couldn't understand it; he was a bio-android, he wasn't supposed to feel pain, he was supposed to be a killing machine, made for nothing but destruction and the murder of son Goku.

His whole life has been nothing but a countless cycle of pain. Since Gero had deemed him a failure for lacking the killing instinct his earlier androids possessed, he was mainly used as a training dummy for 19 or himself.

And that was the only contact he expected from others, all he could be used for was for receiving pain and inflicting it, thus making his existence in his mind- a cursed one.

"...I'm sorry..." Was all he spoke, he could feel his energy getting lower, that same darkness that enveloped over him earlier was threatening to overshadow him once more.

Turning on his back, the android weakly looked up at the side of the mountain, at the large steel doors where Satoshi and Hotaru remained trapped within.

He didn't want the two to have to endure the kind of hellish life he was forced to go through, but he was too injured to help them. He could barely even move or keep a hold on his consciousness.

"... I'm sorry..." Were the last words he spoke, letting his red eyes slowly close once more, allowing that darkness to surround him once more, for that seemed to be the path his life was forced to go in, one filled with emptiness and pain at every turn.

* * *

"Did you find them yet?" Yuuki had run to the front of the large shopping mall where he and his friends were supposed to meet after receiving the text message from Akihiko, asking for their help in searching for Satoshi and Hotaru.

"No luck dude, they aren't in the park." Mamoru sighed, riding over on his black skateboard.

"No luck on my end either." Kasumi said, crossing her arms in a slightly frustrated manner, concern clearly spread over her features.

"I didn't have any luck either, it's like they vanished or something." Tsukimi said only taking a look at the large display clock on the street corner. "And it's getting late too, this is serious, they've never been out this late before."

"I really hope they are safe." Kimiko spoke in a worried tone, only to look at Akihiko and her eyes softening, she could clearly see the concern that Akihiko had for his cousin. Even if he didn't express it verbally, his body language was a dead give away.

Yuuki only took a concerned glance around at his friends, he could feel how worried they all were. Shoving his hand into his pocket, he remembered the hero license that he had in his pocket and that was when an idea suddenly struck him.

"Hey, why don't we go into the arcade and play some games for a bit?" He suggested.

"Are you serious? Two of our friends are lost and the only thing you wanna do is play a video game?" Kasumi asked in a slightly offended tone of voice.

"Well think about it, we're all tired and our minds are running all over the place at once. We need to calm down so we can think clearly, that's why I suggested the game." Yuuki explained, only to be surprised when he saw Akihiko as the first to walk into the mall with Kimiko following suit. "Ah! Akihiko wait!"

"What are you doing? We should be searching for Satoshi and Hotaru." Kimiko caught up with Akihiko as he walked into the arcade, only taking a small glance over his shoulder to see that the rest of his friends had decided to follow him just like Kimiko did.

"I know that, but Yuuki is right. If we are to have any luck in finding them, we need to relax our minds and calm ourselves down so we may think more clearly." Akihiko was more worried than the others, Satoshi was like an older brother to him, and he honestly didn't know what to do if anything were to ever happen to him like this.

"So you're actually taking advice from Yuuki?" Mamoru asked, only earning an offended pout from Yuuki. "Hey! I give better advice than you do!"

"Yes he does at some intervals. Right now, I need to relax, so if you all would be so kind as to join me for a game." Akihiko reached into his pocket and pulled out his own hero license with the rest of the kids following suit and headed for the row of six machines that were neatly lined up next to the change machine and the air hockey table.

"If you're sure about this." Kimiko held her own card in her hand and once the kids had slipped their cards into the game system, they blinked when they saw the screen begin to flash white for a moment before seemingly turning off.

"Huh? Are they broken?" Tsukimi asked, looking around her machine as Kasumi hit hers on the side with her hand. "Yo! I came her to play so start up already you stupid thing!" She hissed, only to blink again when a bright light became to come from the screen of the arcade game, causing all the kids to suddenly shield their eyes from the bright light.

"W-what's going on?!" Yuuki was the first to ask, only to suddenly feel a sense of vertigo hit him, as if the entire world around him began to move in all different directions, but with the light blaring into his face, he couldn't see the extent of what was going on.

It wasn't until he felt the floor below his feet suddenly vanish and was replaced by the brief sensation of floating just as he suddenly felt his feet land on a solid floor once more and the light began to die down.

"Trunks! Come take a look at this! Hurry!" He heard a woman's voice call out, cautiously, he unshielded his eyes from his arm and took a look around at where he and the rest of his friends had ended up.

They appeared to be in a laboratory of some sort, it wasn't extravagant and the ceiling and floor both showed signs of wear, it wasn't until Yuuki's eyes set on a woman with long blue hair tied into a low ponytail that his eyes widened, recognizing the woman as Bulma Briefs!

"W-what's going on? Where are we?" Tsukimi and the rest of the kids were looking around as well, only for Tsukimi's eyes to widen when Trunks had rushed into the room, clad in a black tank top. "What is it mother-" He suddenly stopped when he saw the six kids that were standing in the room, the two partied locked in a shocked stare down.

Tsukimi only blinked a couple of times and wiped her eyes on her sleeve once, wanting to make sure that she was honestly seeing whom she was praying to god that she was seeing.

"_I-It's him!... It's really him!" _ Her mind began to race as quickly as her heart, her cheeks being tinted with a notable blush, her eyes unable to part with the lavender-haired teenager in front of her.

"It looks like we got company." Bulma was the first to break the silence only for it to be interrupted once more by a 'thump!' and looking to the left, Yuuki gasped when he saw Tsukimi pass out onto the floor with her face completely red.

"Ah! Tsukimi! Get a hold of yourself! Tsukimi!" He quickly went over to the girl to check on her, only for Trunks to continue looking at the kids with a slightly confused look.

"_I said I'd wait for a few more to show up but that was quick..."_


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Arriving in the Past?! Trunks' Proposition!**

* * *

"Come on Tsukimi! Wake up!" Yuuki was still standing over the unconscious girl, waving a paper fan in front of her face as she lay on a nearby couch.

"I guess this is a pretty big shock to her, if you guys have any questions feel free to ask." Trunks sat at a table that was in the middle of his room, his blue eyes trailing over the rest of the children as they began looking around the room.

"Okay I only got one question for you; what the hell is going on here? I mean we were playing a damned arcade game and somehow ended up here! That doesn't make sense!" Kasumi placed her hands on her hips, looking straight into the older teen's eyes with an accusing glare.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story but I'll try giving you all the short version. A few days ago, a creature that I had never seen before stole my original time machine. I still don't know what it was but it only referred to itself as 'Cell'. After it still my time machine, I'm assuming that it left for the past, and after trying to save the past from the androids and failing, I knew that I couldn't do this on my own anymore. I needed help. My mother created those cards you all have, they're actually miniature time machines that work together with the game systems you all used. They will send you all back in time but only if you have at least a forth saiyan blood in your veins. I went back into your time a few days ago to leave the game and the cards and just waited to see if they would work." Trunks explained as Kasumi took a glance at Tsukimi and breathed out a sigh.

"Damn, she was right the whole time. Now I owe her a latte." She muttered under her breath only for Akihiko to speak up next.

"Granted your story is true, and we haven't a reason to distrust you, I have one question for you; If these time machines you sent into our time line were mass-produced, are you able to track whoever uses them to time travel?" He asked in his usual formal manner of speaking while also having a stern tone in his voice.

"Yeah we do, my mother keeps track of that. Why do you ask?"

"My cousin Satoshi and his friend Hotaru went missing from our home recently, I am just wondering if the time machines were the cause of their disappearances." The moment Trunks heard the names, his eyes widened slightly, remembering the images of the two children he had seen landing in the outskirts of North City just a few hours ago.

"They were sent about nineteen years into the past, my mother found the signals for their Hero Licenses on her computer but the last time we looked, their life forces were perfectly fine. We aren't sure why, but they were sent to the outskirts of North City and have been in that area for a while now." Akihiko's eyes widened slightly when he heard that, all of the kids turned their eyes towards Trunks with shock and disbelief.

"Outside North City... That's where Dr. Gero's lab is." Yuuki was the first to break the silence, but the moment his name was uttered, Trunks' eyes widened as well in shock.

"You said that their life forces were perfectly fine, did you note? If so, can you check again?" Akihiko asked, though he tried to keep his calm demeanor, worry and concern could easily be seen on his features.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that. And I made tea for everyone if you want some." Bulma had come back into the room, setting down a tray with a tea kettle with eight cups next to it on the table before going over to her computer and turning it on.

"Thank you, I am very concerned about their well-being." Akihiko breathed out a sigh, only for Kimiko to give him a concerned look. She was worried about Satoshi and Hotaru as well but was mostly worried about Akihiko. She hated seeing him look so worried.

"Don't worry Akihiko, knowing Satoshi and Hotaru, I am confident that they are safe." Kimiko offered the boy a kind smile as she placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder.

"Um...You may want to hold on to that thought." Bulma said with slightly wide eyes as she looked at her computer screen.

"Why Mom? Did something happen?" Trunks asked as he looked at the screen and his blue eyes widened as well.

"...Their live forces have vanished." Bulma concluded as the kids eyes all widened and looked at her with disbelief.

"What the hell do you mean they vanished?!" Mamoru demanded only to stop when he saw Akihiko walking towards the computer and look at the screen.

"Their life forces are gone, the licenses track your health and life forces but when one is giving off a signal like this... that means they've..." Bulma trailed off, but the others knew full-well what this meant.

"No way... Satoshi and Hotaru are..." Kasumi spoke with slightly wide eyes, they all felt like they were in the middle of a horrible nightmare but refused to wake up, no matter how horrible the news was to them.

"Akihiko..." Kimiko looked at the boy who was simply staring back at the computer screen, but was slightly surprised to see that his expression had no changed since receiving that news.

"They are not dead." He spoke simply with a slightly determined look on his face.

"Akihiko, dude, I know it's hard to accept but-" Mamoru started as Akihiko turned to face him. "I know for a fact that they are still alive. Satoshi isn't the type of person who would be taken down so easily. The fact that their life forces are gone must be a technical error."

"Uh, I doubt that. I created the licenses with my own two hands, they are almost foolproof, the one thing I can't control is where the time travel will take you when you use it." Bulma said with a slightly offended tone of voice.

"I am aware of that, and I am assuming these cards only work in two ways, it can sent us into the past and back to our time but not into another area of the past." Akihiko said, looking down at the reflective orange card in his hand.

"That's right, if you press that button on the back of it, it'll send you back to your own time line, but why is that important?" Bulma asked, seeing the boy glowering down at the card in his eyes before directing his attention back towards Trunks. "I graciously ask you to take me where my cousin is."

"Dude, seriously, you need to start talking like a normal guy, a normal fourteen year old boy doesn't talk like that." Kasumi breathed out a sigh as Trunks shook his head slightly. "I can't do that, fuel is really scarce here, I only have enough for one more round trip to the past to come back here, and if I go back there now, I won't be able to take on the androids by myself. And I will just further alter the course of history."

"But we can't just leave our friends there! There has to be something we can do Trunks!" Yuuki spoke with a determination burning within his eyes.

"I can't send you into the past, but if you all want, I can train you." Trunks spoke as Yuuki's eyes widened slightly. "Train us? You mean to fight?"

"Of course, you all have saiyan blood in your veins, and if you want, you can learn to use it." Trunks said, taking a step towards the window and breathed out a sigh as he saw how baron the area around his home was, though this was not an unfamiliar sight for him, buildings destroyed, areas completely devoid of life.

"Wait a sec, you're supposed to be able to turn into a super saiyan right? Then how come you can't just kill these androids?" Mamoru asked as Trunks narrowed his eyes into a slight glare out the window. "I've tried, no matter how hard I fight them, no matter how much I push myself to the very limit, they always have the upper hand on me... I believe the only reason they haven't killed me yet is because they enjoy seeing me try to defeat them, I'm just another pawn in their sadistic game. I can't do this alone, that's why my mother made those cards, so we could ask for help from another time where the androids no longer exist. I know this is a lot to ask of you kids, and I know that this is a major change from the lives you're all used to living, but I need your help, if you want to help me, then let me train you all to fight, I really believe that you kids could be the key to finally being rid of these androids. But you're free to turn down my offer as well, this isn't exactly your problem to deal with so if you don't want to, you can return to your own time and continue to live your lives like you normally would." As Trunks finished speaking, Tsukimi had already opened her eyes, still lying on the couch and listening to every word the teen had said.

"_Dad always told me to fight to help others, he would want me to help Trunks. But what about Mom? And Kiri, Sora and Aya?... I can't just leave them alone without any explanation."_ Those thoughts were the only ones going through her mind right now, she truly wanted to help Trunks, she knew the kind of hell he was forced to live in, and knew that if her father were still with her, then he would tell her to help him, but that left the issue of the rest of her family weighing heavily on her mind.

"Train to fight a bunch of androids? I don't know, we could die." Mamoru said, thinking aloud, Kimiko was glancing down at her feet with an unsure expression on her face. _"I don't know if I can do this, I've never raised my hand to anyone before..."_

"You all don't have to decide now, we'll keep an eye on your friends from here but you all can go back to your own time and think about my offer. The choice is completely up to you." Trunks finished as the kids all looked at each other with unsure expressions, only for Yuuki to turn around when he spotted Tsukimi getting off the couch.

"Oh Tsukimi! Are you alright now?" He asked as the bow-wearing girl nodded and brushed herself off. "I think the time travel must've made me light headed but I'm fine now. Come on you guys, we should get back home." She said, taking her card out of her pocket.

"But Tsukimi, did you hear-" Kasumi started until earning and nod from the girl as she pressed the return button on her card, making her fade away from their sight.

"Thank you for your hospitality, the both of you. We will come back once we come to a decision." Kimiko assured the two with a kind smile on her face.

"Take your time, you don't have to rush." Trunks told them as he watched them all vanish one by one until he was left alone with his mother in the room where he breathed out a heavy sigh and placed his in his hands. "How the hell could this happen? Two of their friends are already dead because of this stupid plan!"

"Now Trunks, don't beat yourself up over this, now listen, I think that the kids might have a point, I don't think those two are really dead, I mean the androids aren't even in that area yet so what could possibly kill them? It might just be a bug in the system and I'm gonna see if I can fix it." Bulma offered her son a kind smile before turning back over to her desk and began working.

"I hope you're right mother... I really hope you're right."

* * *

"Yo Tsukimi! Where you going in such a hurry?" Kasumi asked once all of the kids had returned to the arcade and spotted Tsukimi quickly heading out of the building. "Are you stupid? I'm going to help Trunks and that means I have to make sure I'm in the best shape of my life! I still don't know what I'm going to tell my mom about this but I'll think of it while I'm training."

"Are you nuts?! You can't possibly be serious about this Tsukimi! I mean these are real androids he wants you to face! You could get hurt or even killed!" Yuuki said in a worried tone as he started going after her, only to stop when the bow-wearing girl turned around to face him.

"I know that Yuuki! I know full well that there's a chance I could die while helping Trunks but you saw how horrible he has to live! Those androids have made his life a living hell! And I for one am not going to stand by and do nothing while he continues to suffer with what little of the Earth's population is left while I simply stay at home acting like that never happened! My father didn't raise me that way! He always taught me that I have to help people who need it, with the skills he taught me before he died, that I should do good with them and that is exactly what I intend to do! I don't know about the rest of you guys but I am going to help him!" Tsukimi finished before turning back around and continued going down the sidewalk.

"Man, she is nuts." Mamoru sighed as he shook his head, Yuuki could only look after the girl as she continued to go down the sidewalk, he could plainly see the determination and hear it in her voice, he could see the flames of bravery flickering behind her eyes, and knew that there was no way any of them were going to be able to convince her to change her mind.

"I can't believe Tsukimi's actually considering this, I mean time travel, androids, it's all just too much for me to take in." Kasumi sighed, placing her hand on her forehead.

"I know the feeling, there's no way I can go off and nearly get killed, I have a mom and a little sister that need me, they wouldn't be able to survive if I died." Mamoru said before glancing at Akihiko. "You're not seriously considering this, are you Akihiko?"

"...I have some thinking to do, and it is already late anyway." Akihiko spoke simply as he started walking down the sidewalk, leaving the rest of the group alone and Kimiko only looking after him with a concerned expression.

"_Akihiko... I know you want to help Satoshi and Hotaru but if anything were to happen to you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.."_

"What about you Kimiko? There's no way you'd ever agree to something like this, I mean you've never been the fighting type." Kasumi said as Kimiko glanced down at her feet once more. "I am aware of that... I have some thinking to do as well.."

"Hey, how about we all talk about it in the morning? It is getting kind of late and the last thing I need is to get grounded." Yuuki broke the tension and offered his usual cheerful grin to the other three.

"Yeah you're right, see you guys later then." Mamoru said, taking his skateboard out of his backpack and started riding off into the night.

"Yeah you're right, My dad's probably gonna flip that I'm still out, I'll see you guys later!" Kasumi said as she started running in the same direction Mamoru had ridden off in.

"Hey Kimiko, you want me to walk you home?" Yuuki asked as the short-haired girl only nodded slightly as she began following him. "Thank you Yuuki."

As the two began walking down the busy sidewalk being illuminated by the many neon signs from the different businesses trailing down the street, Yuuki couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at Kimiko. He knew she wasn't the fighting type, and wasn't sure what she was going to do about this sudden proposition they were just offered.

He saw her eyes trail down to her feet once more, a habit she had when she was lost in though or had a hard decision to make.

"Look, Kimiko, I know this is shocking. Believe me, I know that this whole time travel thing is shocking, and then there's this mess about Hotaru and Satoshi being stuck in the past." Yuuki finally broke the silence, only to have Kimiko glance back up at him slightly.

"This is all a big shock... If I do decide to join Tsukimi, I can't help but wonder if I could become stronger." Kimiko looked down at her open hands, for as long as she could remember, she's never felt like the strong type, someone always had to come in and help her or save her from something she couldn't deal with herself.

And quite frankly, she was sick of it.

"I know the feeling, I'm not the strongest guy around, and you know that I used to get my ass handed to me a lot when I was a kid. There were times when I just wanted to be strong like my dad was, to be able to stand up for myself even if it was just one time. I'm not strong, maybe that's why Tsukimi and I got to be friends, she was always protecting me and standing up for me, she was always so strong and in a way, I envy her. Even now." Yuuki breathed out a sigh, just thinking about all of the times Tsukimi had to save him made him realize just how much he's come to depend on her but not only as a friend, but as a beacon of light in general.

"I know Akihiko will agree to this. He was always a strong person... But I fear that he may go somewhere where I cannot follow him, and that thought alone terrifies me." Kimiko trailed off, she was completely at a loss, she couldn't decide what to do, her mind was waging a war over what she should do and neither side was giving an inch.

"I wouldn't doubt if Akihiko agreed to go back there, I just don't know if I'm cut out to join them. But I think we should go along with them." Yuuki turned around with a cheerful grin as he arrived in front of the golden gates of Kimiko's manor.

"But what if we can't keep up with them Yuuki? What if all of our efforts would be for not?" Kimiko asked, still mentally battling her own doubts, only to blink in surprise when Yuuki placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it Kimiko, My dad always told me to follow my heart, and that's what I'm going to do. My heart tells me to follow Tsukimi, no matter what she decides to do, and that's my decision. Besides, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything were to happen to Tsukimi and I was just sitting at home like nothing was going on."

"Yuuki..." Kimiko could see that he was still apprehensive about his decision, that a part of his mind was still telling him that this was the wrong choice, but his devotion to Tsukimi was his guiding light, and seemed to be pulling her into its force.

"You're right. Tomorrow I will tell Akihiko that I will go back and help Trunks with Tsukimi." She could feel confidence begin to beat within her heart, she could never truly understand what this force was, but whenever Yuuki told her that something was going to be alright, she always found herself listening to him.

"That's great, I'll text the others and tell them that we're gonna meet at the arcade tomorrow, and come to a decision. I'll see you then!" Yuuki grinned as he began running down the sidewalk, leaving Kimiko to smile softly as she watched him going off.

"_Yuuki is right, I cannot worry so much about my own limitations. I have to be there for Akihiko, and I will not let myself fall behind him."_

* * *

**_Sorry for taking so long with this chapter! I want to update daily but with summer around the corner I've been swamped with finals, babysitting, housework and all that crap but I hope you love this chapter! _**

**_I also want to give a big hug to Gohan4 for her really sweet review! It's reviews like that, that keep me writing and wanting to improve so please keep them coming! X3_**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Doubts and Concerns! A Troubling Decision To Make!**

* * *

Tsukimi slowed down from a run to a walk along the sidewalk, she lived more outside the bustling part of the city, in a more suburban part of the city, the streets were lined with cozy houses, trees in the front yards, white picket fences, basically the definition of the normal peaceful neighborhood.

As she continued to walk down the sidewalk, she began walking towards where the neighborhood ended, in a more empty part of the city that had become a large graveyard.

Walking past the black gates of the graveyard, her eyes began trailing around at the many different tombstones that lined the ground, for anyone else, this would be a creepy place, but not to Tsukimi. It was quite the opposite with her, she found the graveyard comforting in a sense, she stopped when she reached a large stone tombstone.

"_Here lies Daichi Masami, a loving father, husband, and kindhearted individual. 1062-1097."_

Tsukimi knelt down to the ground, reaching into her backpack and pulled out an incense stick and lit it with a match she had, sticking into the ground in front of the ground as she placed her hands together to pray.

"_Hey Dad, it's been a while since I last came here. But I came here to ask for your advice. This boy that I like a lot needs my help, but it would require me leaving mom and Kiri, Sora, and Aya alone for a while, what should I do? I could really use your advice."_

The bow-wearing girl kept her hands together, trying to figure out what her father would want her to do, her father was a wise man, he always seemed to know what to do and when to do it as well.

She always came to him for advice when she needed it, that is, until his untimely death.

As she kept her eyes closed, all Tsukimi could hear were Trunks' words echoing in her mind, repeating like an iPod left on repeat. She didn't look at him, but she could hear in his voice that he needed her.

After a few more seconds passed, Tsukimi opened her eyes, smiling softly at the tombstone as she got up. "Thank you Dad, I know what to do now. Don't worry I'll come back soon." She said as she began walking out of the graveyard, her mind was now made up and she had come to a decision.

* * *

Kasumi sighed as she approached her house, she knew that her father was probably worried about her and was possibly plotting with her three older brothers to start a search party for her.

"Hey I'm home." She said, opening the door, only to blink when she felt herself being brought to her father's chest.

"OH THERE YOU ARE! I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU MY LITTLE ANGEL! I was worried something had happened to you! If anything were to happen to you I wouldn't be able to live myself or face your dear late mother!" Her father had spiked black hair in a short style, his skin was a shade darker than her own and his body was more in-shape than you would expect from a man in his 30's.

"Alright Dad! I'm fine! You can let go now!" Kasumi managed to slip out of her father's bear hug and started brushing herself off. "So where's Eiji, Daigo, and Takato?" She asked as she walked into the house and started walking to the kitchen.

"Probably still out playing basketball or something, but I'm not worried about them, they can handle each other pretty well, it's you that I worry about sweetie." Shouji said, walking towards the oven and opening it, pulling out a pot roast as Kasumi picked up a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Yeah well you don't need to worry about me so much Dad, I'm not weak and defenseless, now Kimiko is weak and defenseless, I know how to use these, you know mom didn't raise no weakling." Kasumi said with a small smirk as she sat at the dining room table and set her backpack down.

"I know that, you are so much like your mother and it makes me so proud, I just know that your mother would be so proud if she could see you..." Shouji clenched his fists before running to the living room.

"OH MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN~! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE US?! YOU WERE TOO MUCH OF A GODDESS FOR THIS WORLD! WE WEREN'T WORTHY OF YOU!" He sobbed in front of a large portrait of Kasumi's mother Kameko.

One word to describe this woman would be beautiful, her skin was the exact same shade as Kasumi's, her black hair, while long was spiked in several places like Kasumi's hair, her piercing black eyes- in the words of Shouji- 'Had the power to captivate any man and steal any heart she wanted'.

"Dad, you really need to take down that portrait of Mom, it's getting creepy." Kasumi said with a rather unamused look as she looked at her father, practically worshiping the picture of his late wife.

"B-But she was an angel! She was too good for this world!" Shouji had tears streaming down his face as he looked at the portrait above the fireplace.

Kasumi just breathed a defeated sigh, reaching into her pocket and pulled out the reflective orange card. She couldn't help but think about everything that had happened today, time travel, learning the saiyans exist, knowing that two of her friends are missing and possibly dead.

"_I wonder if the others are gonna go? I mean, it'd look pretty bad if they all went and left me behind." _ She thought to herself as she picked up her backpack, slung it over her shoulder and started climbing the stars.

"I'll be in my room Dad." She said to her sobbing Father who nodded. "D-Dinner will be ready in half an hour... OH MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN WHY?!"

Kasumi let out another sigh as she walked into her room and threw her backpack onto her bed before sitting down. "Man, I guess Mom must've loved having Dad worship her." She muttered to herself as she picked up her black book from her backpack.

"_Would you want me to go along with this mom?"_

She could remember her mother as being a strong person, a beautiful woman, the kind of woman that made others jealous with not only her beauty but her sharp wit and even sharper tongue.

"_What should I do mom? What would you do if you were in my shoes?" _She laid back on her bed, only looking at the picture on her nightstand of herself with her mother, the two had a nice day at the beach that day, Kameko in a form-fitting black one piece suit while Kasumi was wearing a cute purple one with black stars all over it.

"_What would you do Mom?"_

* * *

"Yo! I'm home!" Mamoru had arrived home on his skateboard, putting it under his arm as he walked into his house, only to smile lightly as he saw his five-year old sister Sakura running over to him happily.

"Big Brother! You're home!" She beamed, jumping into the boy's arms.

"Hey Suki, sorry I'm late, I had some stuff to do." Mamoru chuckled as he started walking into the living room with the small girl.

Suki was just a nickname that everyone they knew had gotten accustomed to calling her since that was her first word as a baby. The five-year old girl was on the small side, like any little girl, her short, black hair was tied into a pair of small pigtails with a pair of pink ribbons, but unlike Mamoru, she had a fair skin tone where as his was more tanned.

"Oh there you are! I was wondering when you would come home!" Mamoru's mother Izumi had come out of the kitchen, with a bright smile on her face.

Her hair was tied into a slightly messy ponytail, she seemed to be more curvy than one would expect, her thighs and bust could easily be considered large but it seemed to be all muscle instead of body fat, she was still donning her work attire which had a white apron on over it.

"Hey Mom, sorry I'm late, I had... some stuff to take care of." Mamoru spoke as he set his little sister on the couch and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Oh don't worry about it, I had an early day so I was able to pick up Suki from preschool, dinner will be ready in a little bit so go get washed up." The raven-haired woman smiled as Mamoru started heading up the stairs.

"Right, I'm on it." He said as he started walking to the bathroom, but not before picking up his hero license from his bag, he honestly wasn't sure if he should even consider going into the past just to help someone he had just met.

He had a family waiting for him, he had a little sister to help take care of and a mother who worked more than she was at home so he had too much at stake to just leave them like that.

"_Man, this isn't going to be easy. I can't just leave Mom and Suki alone here, Mom's job keeps her away from home too long and I can't just leave a five year old home alone... But what if I don't and it messed up history? Like those androids are still alive here? I can't put Suki through that! Oh man I'm making my head hurt.." _ Mamoru sighed as he leaned on the sink, whenever he over thought about something, he found himself with a headache of some sort.

"Mamoru, Honey! Are you done? It's dinner time!" His mother called from downstairs, snapping him out of his thoughts for the most part as he shoved his card back in his pocket.

"Alright! I'll be down in a sec!" He said, but the many possibilities of the effect his choice could have on his family's lives was weighing heavily on his shoulders.

"_What should I do?"_

* * *

Akihiko was already back in his room, just glowering down at the reflective orange card he had placed on his bed. _"Hmmm, time travel is possible, that much is certain. I know that Satoshi and Hotaru have to be alive, I just have that feeling."_ He thought to himself before hearing a knock at the door.

"U-Um... Young Master? D-Dinner is ready?" A rather timid voice spoke on the other side of the door. When Akihiko opened his door, he saw Anise, one of the maids that lived in his home standing in front of him, she had large glasses on with thick lenses, making it hard to truly see her eyes. Her uniform was more old-fashioned than the uniform the other maids wore, a simple pale blue and white color scheme, but the sleeves were long enough to cover her arms and the skirt reached her ankles.

Her short hair was tied into a pair of small pigtails with a pair of black ribbons and had this nervous air around her. "Thank you Anise, please try to relax." Akihiko sighed as he began walking past the timid girl. "R-Right.."

Akihiko couldn't stop himself from thinking about what had happened, he knew he had to help Satoshi, he felt that it was his duty as his cousin to help him and Hotaru out of this situation, but the fact that Bulma and Trunks had not detected a life force from them troubled him greatly.

He was hoping that was a technological problem, perhaps the cards they got were defective? That was the best possible scenario for them, he could not even bear the thought of Satoshi being dead somewhere where he could not follow.

"U-Um Young Master? Is everything alright?... You look a little nervous." Anise spoke up once more, for as long as Akihiko's known her, she has always been the timid type, and seems to suffer from Androphobia for some reason but he always felt it was better not to pry in their personal business.

"I just have a lot on my mind Anise, I am fine." That was putting it mildly, his mind was abuzz with what could happen depending on his choices, worrying about if Satoshi and Hotaru were truly alright or not, and it was getting hard for him to keep his normal composure.

Once he stepped into the large dining room, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the timid maid that had followed him.

"Anise, answer me this hypothetical question; If you were to realize time travel were real, and had the chance to go back in time to stop a great tragedy and many innocent deaths, would you do it?" He asked as the white-haired girl suddenly started thinking.

"W-Well... I think I would. I mean, I'm not strong at all so I don't know how I would be able to help but if I could I would do it, especially if it meant innocent people didn't have to die." A small smile appeared on Akihiko's face as he sat down.

"Thank you Anise, that is all I needed to know." He spoke before seeing the head cook of his house, Rosemary come in pushing a tray full of food towards the table. "Your parents should be here any moment Young Master." She informed Akihiko with the usual bright smile she always wore, her hair was a cream-color, like a platinum blond and was slightly shaggy, stopping just as it reached the small of her back, her body could be described no less as beautiful, curves in all of the right places though she had a habit of keeping her eyes closed a lot, Akihiko thought nothing of it.

The most peculiar trait Rosemary had though was the fact that she was always seen with a katana tied around her waist, no matter what she was doing, she always kept that Katana close to her.

"Are you alright Young Master? You look a little tense." Rosemary gave a concerned glance at Akihiko who simply dismissed her. "I am fine, I just had a lot to think about, that is all."

* * *

A slightly heavy sigh escaped Kimiko's lips as she sat down on her fluffy white bed. Even though what Yuuki said hit close to home, she was still unsure if accompanying her friends on this dangerous mission was the right thing for her to do, she couldn't deny that she was weak, she had never thrown a punch before, and as far as anyone else was concerned, she was just another pampered little heiress who needed bodyguards to get her out of any dangerous situations she was unfortunate enough to get herself into.

"_What should I do? Surely if I go I will just be a burden on everyone else, but if I don't go I may regret it.." _She was snapped out of her thoughts when she hard a knock at her door.

"Young Miss? I have brought you some tea, you seemed troubled during dinner." Outside the door was the head butler of Kimiko's estate, holding a tray with a pale blue tea pot and a beautifully made teacup next to it.

"Oh Chives, thank you. I just have a lot on my mind." Kimiko gave the raven-haired man a kind smile as he let himself into her room, setting the tray down on her nightstand as he proceeded to gracefully pour the tea into a cup.

"I have known you since you were a young girl, I can tell when something is deeply troubling you young miss." He handed Kimiko the cup, only for her to seemingly stare down at her own reflection in the tea.

"I am not sure if I can tell you Chives, the whole situation seems so surreal to me... Like any moment I will awaken back in my bed and the whole thing would have been a dream."

"Young Miss, you know that you can talk to me about anything, it is my job to lend a sympathetic ear. Surely it cannot be that bad." Kimiko glanced up at the man sitting next to her, the kind smile on his face, she had known this man for a long time, he was like a brother to her, she could always talk to Chives if something were on her mind, but she wasn't sure what he would tell her about this particular situation.

"Chives... If you had the chance to become stronger, to save innocent lives, while being completely aware that you could lose your life in the process, would you do it?"

The raven-haired man adjusted his glasses slightly, seemingly thinking about the question for a moment before coming up with an answer. "If I had the opportunity to do something like that, I would simply do what my heart told me to do. The heart is the ultimate source of wisdom. Most say that the mind is but when you over think things, that will hinder your choice and make you consider possible outcomes that may never come to be. The best thing to do when faced with that kind of choice, is simply listen to your heart, Young Miss."

Kimiko looked back at the kind smile Chives was giving her, he was always wise, even though she never knew how old he really was, she did know that she could trust him. "Thank you Chives, I think I know what to do now." She said with a smile, setting the tea cup down and hugged the suit-wearing man.

"It is my pleasure, Young Miss." Chives smiled softly, placing a comforting hand on the girl's head.

* * *

"Tsukimi? Is there something you wanted to tell me Dear?" Tsukimi's mother, Aimi asked as she sat down at the kitchen table, stirring the cup of coffee in her hand, only giving a slightly puzzled look to her daughter.

"Yes. Listen Mom, I know you won't want to hear this, but two of my friends are missing, and a boy I like is in a lot of trouble. I have to help him, I've already made up my mind and I'll be leaving tomorrow, I don't know how long I'll be gone but I'll be alright." Tsukimi said in a more formal tone than she had expected to speak in.

Aimi just sat down at the table, running her hand through her long, wavy black hair before looking down at the cup of coffee in her hand. She could see how determined Tsukimi was, she did not know the whole situation, but she knew that trying to forbid her daughter from doing something that could be dangerous would just push her away even more.

But on the other hand, she couldn't possibly condone something like that! She was her daughter! She couldn't just let her go off to God-knows where on her own like that!

"_Oh Darling, I wish you were here right now, you always knew how to handle the girls better than I could."_ As that thought went past her mind, her eyes trailed back up to meet with Tsukimi's and there it was; that spark. The fire she often saw whenever she looked into her oldest daughter's eyes. The same spark that her father had in his eyes.

"Tsukimi, you know I can't approve of this, what if you get hurt? I couldn't bear live with myself if I lost you too." Aimi breathed out a sigh, only for Tsukimi to place her hands on the table. "But this is what dad would want me to do! I know for a fact that he wants me to do this! Please Mom, let me go, I have to help my friends! Dad always told me to use these martial arts he taught me to help others, and that's what I have to do!"

"...Alright, but please Tsukimi, promise me that you'll be careful. I don't want to lose you too." Aimi said, walking over to Tsukimi and hugging her tightly.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll me fine, you know how strong I am, there's no way anyone can beat me." Tsukimi smiled softly as she hugged her mother back, but she knew this was something she had to do, she mad to be prepare to give up her life for the greater good, that was something her father taught her at an early age.

"_I'll be alright, this is what Dad wants for me. Now I can make him proud to have me as a daughter from up in heaven."_

* * *

"_Okay, what am I gonna tell Mom? I mean she's really protective of me, there's no way I can just say 'Hey mom, my friends and I are going back in time to help Trunks and save Satoshi and Hotaru from being turned into androids or something, don't wait up!'." _Yuuki sighed as he walked into the living room, only to blink when she saw the shocked expressions on both his older brother Isamu and his mother Misao's faces.

"What's wrong?" He asked, only for Isamu to be the one to speak up. "You're going into the past to save your friends from being turned into androids?" The sixteen-year old's eyes were as wide as saucers along with his mother.

"..I-I said that?" Yuuki blinked only to mentally kick himself. _"DAMN IT! I SAID THAT OUT LOUD! OH GOD I AM STUPID!" _

"A-Absolutely not! I am not letting my little boy go off anywhere that might be dangerous! Let alone back in time!" Misao said firmly, after the initial shock had worn off, her maternal instincts kicked in once again.

"But Mom! I know this is dangerous but I have to go! My friends need my help!" Yuuki objected he still had his doubts about going, but he knew that his friends needed him and that was more important that any doubts he may have had.

"Okay, I can get past the whole 'time travel' thing, but this sounds dangerous little brother. Are you sure about this?" Isamu asked, shoving his hand into the pocket of his black skinny jeans and placed his hand on Yuuki's head.

"I'm sure about this, I have to help my friends. Besides, I know if Dad were here, he would tell me to go along with it." Yuuki said, glancing away a little bit. His father's death had a large impact on him, there were still times when he found himself missing him, but right now wasn't one of those times.

"But even so! I can't just sit by and let you-" The brunette woman spoke up before seeing Isamu step in front of her.

"Alright, we'll let you go, but you gotta be careful, I don't think I can stop Mom from bawling her eyes out if you croak too." Isamu said with a small chuckle, Yuuki was standing in a slight state of shock before snapping out of it and smiling back at him. "Thank you Isamu! Don't worry Mom I'll be fine! I promise!" He said before rushing up the stairs and towards his room.

"Yuuki wait! I didn't say it was alright!" Misao called after her son, only to then look at her oldest son with accusing eyes. "How could you tell him he could go?! This sounds dangerous Isamu! Don't you care about your little brother?!" The brunette placed her hands on her hips as the teenager sat down on the couch, casually moving his bangs, that were frosted red on the edge, and covering his right eye out of the way slightly.

"I know this is dangerous but think of it this way Mom; what would Dad have told him to do?"

At the mere mention of her husband, Misao started thinking about it a little bit before taking a seat on the couch next to her son.

"...He would have told Yuuki the exact same thing you did, he would have told him to go ahead and fight with his friends by his side, to try and become stronger." Misao breathed out a defeated sigh, even if she were to try forbidding Yuuki this time, there was no guarantee that he would even listen to her.

"Exactly. So we might as well let him go, I wouldn't worry about him, he took more after Dad than I did and you remember how strong he was." Isamu said, picking up the last family photo they had taken before Takeshi's untimely death. He was only eight years old, and Yuuki at the tender age of seven.

The photo could be described as the perfect family portrait, Misao was standing next to her loving husband, her chestnut brown hair was teased into a set of small ringlets at the end and had a white flower placed behind her right ear, the pale pink sundress she was wearing clung to her body as she happily had her hands wrapped around Isamu.

Yuuki was smiling brightly and being held up by his father, he was a slightly larger man but was clearly in shape and had muscle tone all on his body. His hair was short and spiked, and was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and a white dress shirt that seemed to show off his toned chest more.

The smile on his face was exactly like that of his young son, one could truly see that Yuuki was his son.

"You're right but still... A mother can't help but worry."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Return To The Future! Gerome Awakens?!**

* * *

"_What's going on? Why can't I see anything?"__Tsukimi tried to look around at her surroundings but all around her she saw nothing but darkness. _

"_Is anyone there?" She called, but it seemed that she was completely alone in this empty space. Without seeing much choice, she started walking around, trying to find anyone or anything in this realm of complete darkness._

"_I can't even see my own hand in front of my face." Tsukimi sighed, holding up her hand to her face but all she could see was pitch black in front of her. _

"_GUAH!"_

_Tsukimi shot up when she heard the scream and recognized its voice. That was Mamoru's voice, but it was put to an abrupt halt just as soon as he began screaming. "Mamoru?! Hey! Mamoru can you hear me!" She called and began looking around the area more frantically, her heart pounding in her chest with anxiety as she heard scream after scream invade her eardrums only to be silenced as quickly as they had appeared. _

"_What is going on here?! Someone answer me!" Tsukimi yelled as she started running down a seemingly endless path, she could see nothing but darkness, she couldn't even tell if she was going forwards or backwards or even if she was getting any closer to her friends. All her instincts were telling her to do was run._

_As she continued to run, she suddenly shielded her eyes when she saw a bright light coming from the distance, illuminating the area around her. As she careful lowered her arm once her eyes began to adjust to the new light, they widened at the sight in front of her._

_All of her friends, their bodies lying around at her feet, and her hands tainted with blood. "W-What's going on?" Her mind had completely stopped, just trying to process what had happened was too much for her to take._

_Looking down at her blood soaked hands, Tsukimi then looked ahead at the bright light in the distance, and began running towards it._

"_Everyone... They're all dead! What's happening?! What's going on?! I don't understand! This wasn't supposed to happen! Someone please help us!" She yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued her sprint towards the light source, only to smile when she saw that it was coming from Trunks._

"_T-Trunks! Oh thank God you're still alive! We have to get out of here! I don't know what it is but something's killing everyone!" She said, quickly wrapping her arms around the teenager._

"_Is that so? Tell me Tsukimi, did he look anything like this?" Tsukimi's eyes widened when she heard Trunks' voice begin to change, becoming deeper with every word he spoke. She shakily rose her head to see that the man she was holding on to, had her arms wrapped around, was Cell in his perfect form._

"_Don't worry Little Girl, I will help you. You will see your friends again soon enough." He said with a sinister smirk appearing on his face as Tsukimi could only stare up at him with wide, tear stained eyes._

_She knew now who it was who killed her friends, and was after her life now as well. She couldn't escape, she couldn't run, she couldn't fight him, all she could do was stand there, waiting for him to make his next move. _

"_Good night." _

* * *

Tsukimi had awoken back in her bed, panting slightly, tears streaming from her eyes and her body covered in a thin layer of cold sweat.

Her heart was still pounding, her breath slightly labored.

"It was just a nightmare, I need to get a grip." She told herself as she sat up in her bed, placing her hand on her forehead and wiping off some of the sweat.

"I've never had a nightmare that bad before..." She spoke softly before reaching under her pillow, pulling out the Trunks card that she had kept under there, only being able to see it being illuminated by the moonlight peering in through her window.

A soft smile appeared on her face as she kissed the card gently and kept it in her hand. _"This is for you Trunks, __that was just a horrible nightmare, nothing more."_ She thought to herself, keeping the card in her hand next to her as she closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down enough to fall back asleep.

But in the back of her mind, she was still having her doubts about her decision, this was dangerous, she couldn't deny that. But she couldn't just let innocent people die because she was scared of what would happen to her if she went.

That wasn't how her father raised her.

* * *

The next day came in the blink of an eye. Yuuki was already awake and double-checking to make sure he had everything he was sure he would need while on this little trip he was going to take.

His mind was made up, he had to follow Tsukimi on this mission she felt she had to complete, no matter how scared he would get would make him come back without Tsukimi and the rest of his friends by his side.

Once he made sure he had everything he would need, he zipped up his backpack and gave one last glance at the hero license in his pocket.

It all still seemed so surreal to him, time travel, androids, meeting Trunks, even now he still was wondering if he would wake up back in his bed to discover that none of this had actually happened and was all a very realistic dream.

But this was real, his friends needed his help, not just them, Trunks, and many other innocent people needed him to be brave and help them. And that is just what he was going to do.

Putting his red backpack over his shoulder, Yuuki began heading down the stairs, he had received a text message from Akihiko earlier, telling him that they would be meeting in front of the arcade.

"Alright I'm going!" He said as he entered the living room where he was blind sighted by a hug from his mother. "You promise me that you come back! I don't want anything happening to my baby boy!"

"Mom... I can't breath!" Yuuki was trying to push himself away from the bone crushing vice grip his mother had him in, only to gasp in relief when he felt Isamu pry Misao off the poor boy. "Come on Mom, he's gonna be fine, you need to quit worrying so much."

"Thanks Isamu, I thought I was gonna die for a second there." Yuuki sighed, trying to catch his breath once he began brushing himself off.

"But how do you know for sure? He's just a little boy Isamu! And I don't even know where he's going!" Misao said as she tried to hug Yuuki close to her again, only for the boy to hide behind his older brother to act as a shield.

"He's not a little boy Mom, he's thirteen, besides you need to get to work, you don't have time for worrying about Yuuki." Isamu sighed as he watched his mother get up from her crouching position and brushed herself off. "You're right but still. Please promise me that you'll be careful." Misao placed her hands on Yuuki's shoulders, her brown eyes peering back into her son's.

He had never seen this look before, he never thought that his mother would ever be so concerned about him, but he couldn't just abandon his friends. "Don't worry Mom, I'll be fine. I'll see you guys later." He smiled before heading out the door, leaving Isamu to chuckle slightly as he watched his little brother run down the sidewalk.

"He really is becoming more and more like dad everyday." He chuckled to himself as Misao just breathed out a sigh and picked up her purse. "Yes, and that's what worries me the most."

* * *

Akihiko was standing in front of the mall, checking his watch and glancing around at the various people that had passed him on the sidewalks, just wondering when his friends were going to show up.

Or even if they were going to show up at all.

"_I know this will be a dangerous mission. I would not be surprised if they chose not to show up. But no matter what happens, I have to find out for myself... If Satoshi really is dead or not."_

"Akihiko!" Snapping out of his thoughts, Akihiko glanced down the sidewalk, only to smile lightly when he spotted Kimiko running down the street and towards him. He had a feeling that he would at least have Kimiko accompanying him.

"Have I kept you waiting?" Kimiko asked, panting softly, she was active for the most part due to her soccer club activities but this was going to be different from soccer.

"No, not at all, you are the first to arrive." Akihiko took another glance at his watch before averting his eyes back over to Kimiko. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if she should join him on this endeavor. She was more of the pacifistic type, she was the gentle kind of girl whom would never want to harm anyone. He could not even recall a single time when she had ever raised her hand to anyone.

He didn't want to see her get hurt, or even killed. Especially if it was for his benefit.

Taking a small breath, Akihiko then turned to Kimiko, giving the girl a slightly concerned look. "Kimiko please promise me something."

"What kind of promise?" The short-haired girl asked with a slightly confused expression before looking back into Akihiko's eyes, it was there that she could see it, the concern he had for her, the amount of care he really had for her well-being.

"Please, promise me that if things get too dangerous over there, then you would return home." Akihiko glanced down at the hero license she had in her hand, he knew that it had a return button and if the time came, he wanted her to return, no matter what it would mean for himself.

"But Akihiko, I cannot just leave you alone there, especially if things were to get dangerous! I want to help you, I want to be there for you." Kimiko said before blinking when she saw Akihiko place his hands on her shoulders, causing a light blush to stain her cheeks.

"Please Kimiko, the last thing I would want if for you to get hurt or die on my behalf. Promise me, if things get dangerous, that you will return home." He looked back into her eyes with a stern look, he wasn't about to back down from this, not until she agreed to what he wanted her to do.

The gaze that interlocked with her own was beginning to be too much for Kimiko to take, her heart was already pounding within her chest, her face was flushed and she could feel herself getting more and more nervous as each second passed.

"...Okay. I promise that I will return home if things get too dangerous." She said, causing Akihiko to smile softly as he released her. "Thank you, that is comforting to know."

Kimiko was still blushing lightly and placed a hand upon her chest, feeling just how fast her heart was racing, she wasn't expecting that. Such a passionate gaze from Akihiko or for him to place his hands upon her shoulders.

She lightly touched her right shoulder, still feeling where Akihiko had placed his hands. He didn't hurt her at all, she knew Akihiko wasn't that sort who would ever hurt her even if he were to let his emotions get the better of him, but it was a slightly firm grip but enough to leave a lingering feeling on her shoulders.

"Hey! Akihiko! Kimiko!" The short-haired girl was snapped out of her thoughts when she spotted Yuuki and Tsukimi coming down the sidewalk with Mamoru riding his skateboard and Kasumi running after him.

"I trust you all have come to a decision?" Akihiko asked, only for Kasumi to sigh and pat the boy's back a little too hard. "Seriously! Talk like a normal person!"

"To answer your question, yeah we did. We're all going with you. I told my mom that I was going with you to go help a friend and she totally understood." Mamoru grinned as he held a black backpack over his shoulder.

"I told my dad the same thing, of course it took Mom's portrait to make him let go of me so I could leave." Kasumi sighed as she placed a hand on her hip.

"I actually ended up telling my mom everything by accident but it worked out in the end.' Yuuki chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I told my mom the truth, I wasn't going to keep something like this from her and she let me go. So let's quit talking already and get in there, we have a couple of friends we have to save." Tsukimi said as she began walking into the mall.

"Thank you, everyone. For a minute, I was concerned if I would have to return to Trunks on my own." Akihiko said before finding Mamoru with his arm around his shoulders, wearing a cheerful grin. "Hey we're friends! We got your back man!"

"He's right, if you need our help Akihiko, you can count on us." Yuuki smiled as he followed the others into the arcade.

"Now if we could just help you talk like a normal person we'd be doing great." Kasumi chuckled as she started walking in.

"Really, thank you everyone." Akihiko smiled softly as the kids then found themselves in front of the arcade machines they had first used to go into the past.

"Is everyone ready?" Tsukimi asked as she took her hero license out of her pocket with the others following suit behind her. "Yeah, we're ready." Yuuki nodded and at the same time, all six kids had put their cards into the machines, making the screens begin to blink black and white and almost as soon as they could comprehend it, the kids found themselves back in Bulma's laboratory.

"Well I didn't think we'd be seeing you all again so soon." Bulma chuckled as she turned in her office chair to face the kids.

"Yes, we have all come to a decision. We want to train here, we will help Trunks defeat the monster that had stolen his time machine." Akihiko spoke in his usual polite and formal tone of voice.

"Well that's great, Trunks should be coming back in a sec, he went out to go patrol the area. He was so anxious about what you kids would decide to do that he couldn't stay still." Bulma sighed, only to hear the door to her lab open and see her teenaged son walk in. "Well so far- oh. I'm guessing that since you all are here you're going to train?" He asked, looking at the kids who all nodded.

"Yes, we want you to train us, we want to help you defeat that monster that stole your time machine. But we also want to make sure our friends are safe." Yuuki said as Trunks smiled slightly. "Alright, but I should warn you that this isn't going to be easy. I'm not going to hold back on your kids. That's not how my mentor would want me to train my new apprentices."

"Does this mean we get bad-ass swords like that?" Mamoru asked with a hopeful expression as he looked at the sword that Trunks had on his back, only for Kasumi to slap him upside his head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"For asking stupid-ass questions!"

"Please ignore those two, and I don't think we actually introduced ourselves before. My name is Tsukimi Masami and these are my friends Yuuki Yuukanhito, Akihiko Chino, Kimiko Shuurei, Kasumi Yuuga, and Mamoru Tsukemo." Tsukimi smiled as the lavender-haired teen who smiled slightly back at her. "Well I'm pretty sure you all know my name, but do any of you have any fighting experience?"

"The only one out of us who has any kind of experience fighting would be Tsukimi." Kasumi said as Tsukimi blushed slightly. "Well I run my father's dojo but it's not that big of a deal. I pretty much know the basics of fighting." She said with a slightly bashful chuckle.

"I have experience fighting as well. Rosemary, Saffron, and even Anise have sought to that." Akihiko spoke up, because of those three he was pretty used to dodging swords and even knew how to wield one since his maids felt it was important for him to learn to defend himself.

"Well this is going to be different from what you're used to learning. First off, I'm going to have to teach you all to use your ki. That's very important, after that I can teach you all to fly as well. So first we'll-" Trunks started before hearing a report coming in on the radio that was sitting on the table.

"_The androids have begun attacking the remnants of North City! Residents living there are advised to evacuate the area immediately before-"_ The report had cut to static, signaling that the androids had taken care of the reporter that was there.

"Damn it! Those androids again!" Trunks growled before starting to head out. "You all stay here!"

"Wait a sec! We came to help you, why can-" Yuuki stopped when he saw Tsukimi step in front of him. "Don't worry Trunks, we'll stay put." She said as the teen nodded and ran out of the house.

"Tsukimi! The hell was that for?" Mamoru asked as Tsukimi sighed slightly. "Even if we do know how to fight, Akihiko and I are the only ones with experience, if we went up against opponents that not even a super saiyan Trunks can defeat, we'd just be walking into a slaughter house and coming here would have been for nothing!" The moment Tsukimi said that, everyone glanced away slightly, knowing that she was right.

They weren't strong enough to deal with this kind of a threat, at least not yet anyway and still had to wait until they got stronger before they could fight alongside Trunks against these kinds of opponents.

"I have to admit. You're a smart bunch. I thought you would have tried going after Trunks. I guess it's a good thing that you know your limitations." Bulma smiled as she walked into the room, setting cups of tea on the table.

"It hasn't been easy on him at all, these androids are making life hell. But I still believe that a future where we don't have to deal with the androids is possible. Even if it can't be here, I still don't want anyone to have to suffer the wrath of those mechanical monsters."

"We know, we may have grown up in a time of peace but we're going to help him. And get stronger." Tsukimi said with a determined expression that seemed to brighten up the rest of the group.

"Yeah she's right, we might not be strong enough right now but that's what we came here for, to learn to kick ass!" Mamoru grinned.

"But we also came here to make sure our friends are safe, even if their life forces are not being shown on the computer, I have the utmost confidence that they are still safe." Akihiko said with a small smile as he took a sip from his cup.

"It's good to keep up that kind of attitude, this place is pretty big so you guys can stay in any room you want, we don't have a whole lot with the androids running around but feel free to make yourselves at home while you're here." Bulma smiled as she took a sip from her own cup.

"Thank you, we will. So do we wait until Trunks comes back?" Yuuki asked as he looked out the window.

"Pretty much, that's what I've been doing. There's not much else we can do but wait. I just hope he's playing it safe out there. I don't think I can handle losing him too." Bulma sighed before seeing Tsukimi smile at her. "Don't worry, we're not gonna let anything happen to Trunks."

"Thank you, I'm sure with the training you guys will get from Trunks, you'll get a lot stronger." Bulma smiled, but as Tsukimi began drinking her tea, she couldn't help but still have a few doubts about this plan.

She was strong her own right, she couldn't deny that, but the only people she's ever fought were opponents in tournaments and they weren't even that strong to begin with.

She figured that this would be a good test of her true strength, but the only worry that lingered on her mind was if she would pass or fail this little test.

* * *

Slowly Gerome's red eyes began to open, his vision still slightly blurry and was bordering on unconsciousness.

As he looked ahead he saw what looked like a small green been in front of it, he wasn't sure what it could do, or even if it would help him but he weakly reached his hand out to the bean, picking it up and placed it in his mouth, and as soon as he had swallowed it, his eyes widened when he felt the pain wracking his body vanish, the injuries that once littered his body were all gone and he had all of his energy restored.

Getting up from the grass, the purple bio-android gripped his fists a couple of times, making sure that the pain was gone, was it a stroke of luck? He wasn't sure but he took one glance up at the lab where he had fallen from, giving it a sharp glare as he clenched his fists.

He knew what he had to do now.

"_My energy is back, the pain is gone... Dr. Gero, I will not let you hurt those two any more."_


End file.
